Effects of polychlorobiphenyls, polybromodiphenylethers, organochlorine pesticides and their metabolites on vitamin A status in lactating grey seals

Abstract

a b s t r a c tPolychlorobiphenyls (PCBs), polybromodiphenylethers (PBDEs) and organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), such as dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and hexachlorobenzene (HCB), are considered as endocrine disruptors in laboratory and wild animals. This study investigated whether these compounds and their hydroxylated metabolites (HO-PCBs and HO-PBDEs) may affect the homoeostasis of vitamin A, a dietary hormone, in the blubber and serum of twenty lactating grey seals sampled at early and late lactation on the Isle of May, Scotland. The effect of naturally produced compounds such as the methoxylated (MeO)-PBDEs was also examined. Vitamin A levels in inner blubber (37 7 9 mg/g wet weight (ww) and 92 7 32 mg/g ww at early and late lactation, respectively) and serum (408 7 143 and 390 7 98 ng/ml at early and late lactation, respectively) appeared to be positively related to SPCBs, SPBDEs and several individual PCB and PBDE congeners in inner blubber and serum. These findings may suggest enhanced mobilisation of hepatic retinoid stores and redistribution in the blubber, a storage site for vitamin A in marine mammals. We have also reported that serum concentrations of SHO-PCBs and 4-OH-CB107 tended to increase with circulating vitamin A levels. Although the direction of the relationships may sometimes differ from those reported in the literature, our results are in agreement with previous findings highlighting a disruption of vitamin A homoeostasis in the blubber and bloodstream following exposure to environmental pollutants. The fact that vitamin A and PCBs appeared to share common mechanisms of mobilisation and transfer during lactation in grey seals (Debier et al., 2004;Vanden Berghe et al., 2010) may also play a role in the different relationships observed between vitamin A and lipophilic pollutants.

Stereoselective Formation of Mono- and Dihydroxylated Polychlorinated Biphenyls by Rat Cytochrome P450 2B1

“…12-19 These metabolites are also of environmental concern because they can result in dysfunction of thyroid and estrogenic activities, 10 disruption of the homoeostasis of vitamin A, 20 disorder in neuronal and brain development, 21 cytotoxicity and oxidative stress in cells, 22 and interference with the metabolism of xenobiotics in other organisms. 23 Atropisomer accumulation of OH-PCBs in biota may also result in stereoselective toxicities.…”

Polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) exposure in children: Possible associations with cardiovascular and psychological functions

“…As such, PBDEs have been used in a wide variety of consumer and industrial products, including building materials, electronics, furnishings, and plastics. Similar to other persistent organic pollutants (POPs), PBDEs show a marked resistance to metabolic or environmental degradation and this, in combination with widespread use, has resulted in detectable levels of PBDEs in wildlife around the world (Trumble et al 2012; Vanden Berghe et al 2012; Shaw and Kannan 2009) as well as in humans with (Schecter et al 2009) and without (Hohenblum et al 2012) occupational exposure. In addition, levels of PBDEs appear to be higher in children than adults (Lunder et al 2010), making this a particularly important population to study.…”

Linking pollutant exposure of humpback whales breeding in the Indian Ocean to their feeding habits and feeding areas off Antarctica

“…5. d 13 C and d 15 N ( 0 / 00 ) values in humpback whales, Megaptera novaeangliae off la Reunion Island (this work) compared to other krill and mammal species from the Antarctic: krill species sampled in Antarctica (black marks), in baleen whales including the fin whale, the minke whale and the southern right whale (green marks), the crabeater seal (orange mark), other marine mammal species from Antarctica such as the killer whale, the leopard seal, the Weddell Seal and the Ross Seal (Burns et al, 1998;Cherel, 2008 Roosens et al, 2007;Vanden Berghe et al, 2013;Wild et al, 2015).…”