Environmental levels of cadmium, lead and mercury in brown hares and their relation to blood metabolic parameters

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine concentrations of selected heavy metals in the liver and kidney of brown hares (Lepus europaeus). In addition, correlations between heavy metals and biochemical parameters in blood plasma were determined. The average concentrations of heavy metals (mmol/L) +/- SD were as follows: liver: Pb 0.221 +/- 0.189, Cd 0.160 +/- 0.140, Hg 0.021 +/- 0.030, kidney: Pb 0.115 +/- 0.125, Cd 1.570 +/- 1.103, Hg 0.030 +/- 0.053. The average concentrations of biochemical parameters in the blood plasma were as follows: Ca 3.16 mmol/L, P 2.19 mmol/L, Mg 1.40 mmol/L, Na 148.71 mmol/L, K 8.12 mmol/L, glucose 6.56 mmol/L, total proteins 56.49 g/L, urea 5.00 mmol/L, total lipids 1.40 g/L, bilirubin 3.97 micro mol/L, cholesterol 1.53 mmol/L, aspartate aminotransferase (AST) 6.06 micro kat/L and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) 1.94 micro kat/L. Average levels of hormones (ng/mL) were as follows: testosterone 2.94, androstendiol 0.13, estradiol 501.59, progesterone 6.63, oxytocin 328.60. Tissue analysis showed an accumulation of lead, cadmium and mercury in the liver and kidney of brown hares. There were no significant correlations between levels of heavy metals in liver, kidney, and biochemical parameters.

Effects of Cadmium, Lead, and Mercury on the Structure and Function of Reproductive Organs

“…Human exposure to mercury occurs mostly through seafood or sashimi consumption, and also to a lesser extent through dental amalgams, broken thermometers, fluorescent light bulbs, button cell batteries, and skin-lightening creams [ 129 , 130 ]. Mercury exposure is related to its concentrations in the environment [ 131 , 132 , 133 ] and various food products [ 134 , 135 , 136 , 137 , 138 , 139 , 140 ]. Possible health impacts have been reported [ 141 ].…”

Environmental cadmium and zinc concentrations in liver and kidney of European hare from different Serbian regions

“…Accumulation of toxic and essential elements in hare organs has been studied by a number of authors [10][11][12][13][14][15]. Considering values obtained by sampling regions ( Table 1) we noticed that the median values, of both the metals, are probably affected by random individual variations, age structure of collected animals and the sample size from the particular sampling region.…”

Selenium and Cadmium Tissue Concentrations and the CASA Sperm Motility Analysis after Administration to Rats

“…The kidney and liver are recognized as the main cadmium storage tissues (Toman and Massányi, 1996;Jihen et al, 2008;Kolesarova et al, 2008;Roggeman et al, 2014). Excessive exposure to both elements causes increase in their contents in the internal organs.…”