Bioaccumulation of hydroxylated polychlorinated biphenyls and pentachlorophenol in the serum of northern elephant seal pups (Mirounga angustirostris)

• Published in: Environmental Research
• Main Authors: Louis , Caroline, Covaci, Adrian, Stas, Marie, Crocker, Daniel, Malarvannan, Govindan, Dirtu, Alin, Debier, Cathy
• Other Authors: UCL - SST/ISV - Institut des sciences de la vie
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Academic Press 2015
• Subjects: Elephant Seal; Elephant Seals
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/156451; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2014.08.040

Northern elephant seals (NES) (Mirounga angustirostris) from the Año Nuevo State Reserve (CA, USA) were sampled at 1-, 4-, 7- and 10-week post-weaning. Concentrations of hydroxylated polychlorinated biphenyls (HO-PCBs) and their parent PCBs were measured in the serum of each individual. The ΣHO-PCB concentrations in the serum increased significantly between early and late fast (from 282±20 to 529±31 pg/mL). This increase might result from a mobilisation of HO-PCBs transferred from the mother during gestation and/or lactation and stored in the pup's liver. Food deprivation has been shown to exacerbate biotransformation capacities in mammals, birds and fish. The HO-penta-CBs was the predominant homologue group, followed by HO-hexa-CBs and HO-hepta-CBs. No preferential pathway for the metabolism of HO-PCBs (HO-direct insertion or NIH-shift of a chlorine atom) could be evidenced. The concentrations of pentachlorophenol (PCP) in the serum of weaned NES increased from 103±7 pg/mL at early fast to 246±41 pg/mL at late fast, which is within the range of PCP concentrations usually encountered in marine mammals.