Organic Halogenated Contaminants in Mother-fetus Pairs of Harbor Seals (Phoca Vitulina Richardii) from Alaska, 2000-2002

Overview

Journal J Hazard Mater

Publisher Elsevier

Specialty Environmental Health

Date 2012 May 15

PMID 22579763

Citations 1

Authors

Dongli Wang

Shannon Atkinson

Anne Hoover-Miller

Weilin L Shelver

Qing X Li

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

This study measured organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) including hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs), hexachlorobenzene (HCB), heptachlor and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethanes (DDTs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polychlorinated naphthalenes (PCNs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in tissues of six mother-fetus pairs of harbor seals that were hunted for subsistence in Alaska waters of the Northern Pacific Ocean. These data suggest that significant amounts of these contaminants were transferred from mother harbor seals to fetuses during pregnancy and distributed among fetal organs. The tissue distribution depended on the chemical groups, the specific compounds in the groups and the target organs. Concentration profiles of ∑OCPs, ∑PCBs, ∑PCNs and ∑PBDEs were remarkably similar among maternal blubber, liver, and placenta, fetal blubber, and liver (except for HCHs), possibly indicating that the placenta did not serve as a barrier for all of the compounds analyzed. DDTs, HCB, HCHs, PCBs and PBDEs could penetrate the placenta and accumulate in the blubber of the fetus in utero, while HCHs, PCBs and PBDEs penetrated the placenta and accumulated more preferentially in the fetal liver than in the fetal brain in comparison with DDTs and HCB. Heptachlor and PCNs penetrated the placenta and accumulated in the fetal liver and brain instead of fetal blubber. Similar maternal transfer trends for OCPs, PCBs, PCNs and PBDEs were shown by fetal to maternal (FM) blubber ratios and FM liver ratios. Prenatal transfer of these toxic contaminants from mothers to fetus presumably through the placenta may pose health risks to the fetus during early development.

Citing Articles

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) source identification and a maternal transfer case study in threatened killer whales (Orcinus orca) of British Columbia, Canada.

Lee K, Raverty S, Cottrell P, Zoveidadianpour Z, Cottrell B, Price D Sci Rep. 2023; 13(1):22580.

PMID: 38114485 PMC: 10730697. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-45306-w.

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