PCBs in fish and their cestode parasites in Lake Victoria

Abstract

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are classified as persistent organic pollutants (POPs) regulated by the Stockholm Convention (2001). Although their production and use was stopped almost three decades ago, PCBs are environmental persistent, toxic, and bioaccumulate in biota. We assessed the levels of 7 PCB congeners (IUPAC nos. 28, 52, 101, 118, 138, 153, and 180) in sediment and fish (Oreochromis niloticus, Lates niloticus, and Rastrineobola argentea) and evaluated the potential of cestode fish endoparasite (Monobothrioides sp., Proteocephalaus sp., and Ligula intestinalis) as biomonitors of PCBs in Lake Victoria, Kenya. The median concentration of Σ7PCBs in sediments and fish were 2.2-96.3 μg/kg dw and 300-3,000 μg/kg lw, respectively. At all the sampling sites, CB138, CB153, and CB180 were the dominant PCB congeners in sediment and fish samples. Compared to the muscle of the piscine host, Proteocephalaus sp. (infecting L. niloticus) biomagnified PCBs ×6-14 while Monobothrioides sp. (infecting O. niloticus) biomagnified PCBs ×4-8. Meanwhile, L. intestinalis (infecting R. argentea) biomagnified PCBs ×8-16 compared to the muscle of unparasitized fish. We demonstrate the occurrence of moderate to high levels of PCB in sediments and fish in Lake Victoria. We also provide evidence that fish parasites bioaccumulate higher levels of PCBs than their piscine hosts and therefore provide a promising biomonitor of PCBs. We urge further a long-term study to validate the use of the above cestode fish parasites as biomonitoring tools for PCBs.

Occurrence, quantities and probable human health risks of indicatory polychlorinated biphenyls in processed Lates niloticus (L.) products from Lake Victoria in Tanzania

“…For all fish products considered in this study, the PCBs loading was dominated by CB 138, CB 153 followed by CB 180. Comparable results are also reported in previous studies (Polder et al, 2014;Ssebugere et al, 2014;Oluoch-Otiego et al, 2016). The domination tendency of CB 138, CB 153 and CB 180 are also reported in other previous studies (Polder et al, 2014;Oluoch-Otiego et al, 2016).…”

“…Comparable results are also reported in previous studies (Polder et al, 2014;Ssebugere et al, 2014;Oluoch-Otiego et al, 2016). The domination tendency of CB 138, CB 153 and CB 180 are also reported in other previous studies (Polder et al, 2014;Oluoch-Otiego et al, 2016). This is due to the fact that CB 138, CB 153 and CB 180 are not metabolized by certain organisms compared to the rest of congeners (Ssebugere et al, 2014).…”

“…Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are synthetic organic compounds that are characterized by their lipophilicity (Cok et al, 2007;Bordajandi et al, 2008;Bjermo et al, 2013), persistence in the environment (due to longer halflives), toxicity, long range atmospheric transport (LRAT) (Liu et al, 2007), accumulation in biota and increase in concentration with time at higher trophic levels (Polder et al, 2014;Ssebugere et al, 2014;Oluoch-Otiego et al, 2016). The compounds are also regarded as endocrine disruptors (EDs) (Bell, 2014) as they alter the normal functioning of the endocrine system and are difficult to degrade in the environment (Field and Sierra-Alvarez, 2008;Frouin et al, 2013).…”

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the cestode Oncomegas wageneri parasite of Mexican flounder Cyclopsetta chittendeni

“…Consequently, benthic organisms (such as flatfishes and their parasites) are likely to be exposed to a wide variety of both inorganic and organic pollutants, including PAHs. However, research on the accumulation of organic compounds in hostparasite systems is scant (e.g., Heinonen et al 1999Heinonen et al , 2000Persson et al 2007;Brázová et al 2012a;Oluoch-Otiego et al 2016), especially about hydrocarbons, compared with studies on parasite-metal interactions (Tenora et al 2000; Section Editor: Guillermo Salgado-Maldonado Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-019-06597-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. Pascual and Abollo 2003;Sures et al 2006;Barus et al 2007;Johnson-Restrepo et al 2008;Palm 2011;Brázová et al 2012b;Lim and Shin 2013;Zahra et al 2013;Brázová et al 2015;Kleinertz et al 2016).…”

Methodologies and Results Concerning the Determination of Ocs And Pcbs From Fish Meat

“…PCBs were used in a wide variety of applications that resulted in release to the environment (Grimm et al, 2015). They were employed in the past as dielectric fluids in power transformers and capacitors, as insulators, coolants, plasticizers in plastic and rubber products, and as hydraulic fluid (Oluoch-Otiego et al, 2016). Even if their mass production and use was stopped or restricted and no natural sources of PCBs are known, traces are still discovered either because of accidental leaks, fires in electrical equipment, past disposal in dumps and leakage from hazardous waste sites or because fires in transformers, capacitors, or other products containing PCBs (ATSDR, 2000).…”