Effects of sample preparation on methylmercury concentrations in arctic organisms
The biogeochemical cycling of mercury (Hg) in the marine environment is an issue of global concern, as consumption of marine fish is a major route of human exposure to the toxic specie methylmercury (MeHg). The most widely utilised and accepted technique for preparing biological tissue samples for t...
Published in: | International Journal of Environmental Analytical Chemistry |
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2575547 https://doi.org/10.1080/03067319.2014.900678 |
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ftsintef:oai:sintef.brage.unit.no:11250/2575547 2023-05-15T14:53:00+02:00 Effects of sample preparation on methylmercury concentrations in arctic organisms Braaten, Hans Fredrik Veiteberg Harman, Christopher Peter Øverjordet, Ida Beathe Larssen, Thorjørn 2014-04-09 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2575547 https://doi.org/10.1080/03067319.2014.900678 eng eng Taylor & Francis Online Norges forskningsråd: 196295 International Journal of Environmental Analytical Chemistry. 2014, 94 (9), 863-873. urn:issn:0306-7319 http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2575547 https://doi.org/10.1080/03067319.2014.900678 cristin:1177072 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internasjonal http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.no Copyright © 2018 Informa UK Limited - accepted version © The Authors 2014 CC-BY-NC-ND 863-873 94 International Journal of Environmental Analytical Chemistry 9 Acid extraction alkaline digestion Arctic food chain methylmercury mercury speciation sample treatment Journal article Peer reviewed 2014 ftsintef https://doi.org/10.1080/03067319.2014.900678 2021-08-04T12:00:02Z The biogeochemical cycling of mercury (Hg) in the marine environment is an issue of global concern, as consumption of marine fish is a major route of human exposure to the toxic specie methylmercury (MeHg). The most widely utilised and accepted technique for preparing biological tissue samples for the analysis of MeHg involves an alkaline digestion of the sample. Recent studies suggest, however, that this technique is inadequate to produce satisfactory recoveries for certain biological samples, including fish, fur, feathers and other ‘indicator’ tissues which contain relatively high levels of MeHg. Thus an improved acidic extraction method has been proven to produce more satisfactory results for a wide range of biological tissues. The present study compares the two methods on real sample material from different organisms of an Arctic marine food chain, and shows how this could lead to misinterpretation of analytical results. Results show significantly (p < 0.05) lower concentrations for alkaline digestion for large parts of the food chain; especially in fish and birds. The mean differences in concentrations found between the two different methods were 28, 31 and 25% for fish (Polar and Atlantic cod), Little Auk and Kittiwake, respectively. For samples lower in the food chain (i.e. zooplankton and krill) no significant differences were found. This leads to a clear underestimation of the levels of MeHg found higher up in these food chains; the ratio of MeHg to Hg in biological samples; and thus potentially erroneous conclusions drawn from these results concerning the biological cycling of mercury species. We hypothesise that the main reasons for these differences are poor extraction efficiency and/or matrix effects on the ethylation step prior to analysis. This is the first study to examine the effects of these artefacts on real environmental samples covering a complete food chain. Effects of sample preparation on methylmercury concentrations in arctic organisms acceptedVersion Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic atlantic cod little auk Zooplankton SINTEF Open (Brage) Arctic International Journal of Environmental Analytical Chemistry 94 9 863 873 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
SINTEF Open (Brage) |
op_collection_id |
ftsintef |
language |
English |
topic |
Acid extraction alkaline digestion Arctic food chain methylmercury mercury speciation sample treatment |
spellingShingle |
Acid extraction alkaline digestion Arctic food chain methylmercury mercury speciation sample treatment Braaten, Hans Fredrik Veiteberg Harman, Christopher Peter Øverjordet, Ida Beathe Larssen, Thorjørn Effects of sample preparation on methylmercury concentrations in arctic organisms |
topic_facet |
Acid extraction alkaline digestion Arctic food chain methylmercury mercury speciation sample treatment |
description |
The biogeochemical cycling of mercury (Hg) in the marine environment is an issue of global concern, as consumption of marine fish is a major route of human exposure to the toxic specie methylmercury (MeHg). The most widely utilised and accepted technique for preparing biological tissue samples for the analysis of MeHg involves an alkaline digestion of the sample. Recent studies suggest, however, that this technique is inadequate to produce satisfactory recoveries for certain biological samples, including fish, fur, feathers and other ‘indicator’ tissues which contain relatively high levels of MeHg. Thus an improved acidic extraction method has been proven to produce more satisfactory results for a wide range of biological tissues. The present study compares the two methods on real sample material from different organisms of an Arctic marine food chain, and shows how this could lead to misinterpretation of analytical results. Results show significantly (p < 0.05) lower concentrations for alkaline digestion for large parts of the food chain; especially in fish and birds. The mean differences in concentrations found between the two different methods were 28, 31 and 25% for fish (Polar and Atlantic cod), Little Auk and Kittiwake, respectively. For samples lower in the food chain (i.e. zooplankton and krill) no significant differences were found. This leads to a clear underestimation of the levels of MeHg found higher up in these food chains; the ratio of MeHg to Hg in biological samples; and thus potentially erroneous conclusions drawn from these results concerning the biological cycling of mercury species. We hypothesise that the main reasons for these differences are poor extraction efficiency and/or matrix effects on the ethylation step prior to analysis. This is the first study to examine the effects of these artefacts on real environmental samples covering a complete food chain. Effects of sample preparation on methylmercury concentrations in arctic organisms acceptedVersion |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Braaten, Hans Fredrik Veiteberg Harman, Christopher Peter Øverjordet, Ida Beathe Larssen, Thorjørn |
author_facet |
Braaten, Hans Fredrik Veiteberg Harman, Christopher Peter Øverjordet, Ida Beathe Larssen, Thorjørn |
author_sort |
Braaten, Hans Fredrik Veiteberg |
title |
Effects of sample preparation on methylmercury concentrations in arctic organisms |
title_short |
Effects of sample preparation on methylmercury concentrations in arctic organisms |
title_full |
Effects of sample preparation on methylmercury concentrations in arctic organisms |
title_fullStr |
Effects of sample preparation on methylmercury concentrations in arctic organisms |
title_full_unstemmed |
Effects of sample preparation on methylmercury concentrations in arctic organisms |
title_sort |
effects of sample preparation on methylmercury concentrations in arctic organisms |
publisher |
Taylor & Francis Online |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2575547 https://doi.org/10.1080/03067319.2014.900678 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic atlantic cod little auk Zooplankton |
genre_facet |
Arctic atlantic cod little auk Zooplankton |
op_source |
863-873 94 International Journal of Environmental Analytical Chemistry 9 |
op_relation |
Norges forskningsråd: 196295 International Journal of Environmental Analytical Chemistry. 2014, 94 (9), 863-873. urn:issn:0306-7319 http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2575547 https://doi.org/10.1080/03067319.2014.900678 cristin:1177072 |
op_rights |
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internasjonal http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.no Copyright © 2018 Informa UK Limited - accepted version © The Authors 2014 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY-NC-ND |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1080/03067319.2014.900678 |
container_title |
International Journal of Environmental Analytical Chemistry |
container_volume |
94 |
container_issue |
9 |
container_start_page |
863 |
op_container_end_page |
873 |
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