Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA.
Environ Health Perspect. 2011 Mar;119(3):337-43. doi: 10.1289/ehp.0901809. Epub 2010 Dec 6.
Ocean pollution affects marine organisms and ecosystems as well as humans. The International Oceanographic Commission recommends ocean health monitoring programs to investigate the presence of marine contaminants and the health of threatened species and the use of multiple and early-warning biomarker approaches.
We explored the hypothesis that biomarker and contaminant analyses in skin biopsies of the threatened sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) could reveal geographical trends in exposure on an oceanwide scale.
We analyzed cytochrome P450 1A1 (CYP1A1) expression (by immunohistochemistry), stable nitrogen and carbon isotope ratios (as general indicators of trophic position and latitude, respectively), and contaminant burdens in skin biopsies to explore regional trends in the Pacific Ocean.
Biomarker analyses revealed significant regional differences within the Pacific Ocean. CYP1A1 expression was highest in whales from the Galapagos, a United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization World Heritage marine reserve, and was lowest in the sampling sites farthest away from continents. We examined the possible influence of the whales' sex, diet, or range and other parameters on regional variation in CYP1A1 expression, but data were inconclusive. In general, CYP1A1 expression was not significantly correlated with contaminant burdens in blubber. However, small sample sizes precluded detailed chemical analyses, and power to detect significant associations was limited.
Our large-scale monitoring study was successful at identifying regional differences in CYP1A1 expression, providing a baseline for this known biomarker of exposure to aryl hydrocarbon receptor agonists. However, we could not identify factors that explained this variation. Future oceanwide CYP1A1 expression profiles in cetacean skin biopsies are warranted and could reveal whether globally distributed chemicals occur at biochemically relevant concentrations on a global basis, which may provide a measure of ocean integrity.
海洋污染不仅影响海洋生物和生态系统，还会影响人类。国际海洋学委员会建议开展海洋健康监测计划，以调查海洋污染物的存在情况以及受威胁物种的健康状况，并采用多种早期预警生物标志物方法。
我们探索了一个假设，即在受威胁的抹香鲸（Physeter macrocephalus）的皮肤活检中进行生物标志物和污染物分析，可以揭示在全球范围内海洋范围内暴露的地理趋势。
我们分析了皮肤活检中的细胞色素 P450 1A1（CYP1A1）表达（通过免疫组织化学）、稳定的氮和碳同位素比值（分别作为营养级和纬度的一般指标）以及污染物负担，以探讨太平洋地区的区域趋势。
生物标志物分析显示，太平洋内存在显著的区域差异。CYP1A1 表达在来自加拉帕戈斯群岛（联合国教科文组织世界遗产海洋保护区）的鲸鱼中最高，而在离大陆最远的采样点中最低。我们研究了鲸鱼的性别、饮食、范围和其他参数对 CYP1A1 表达区域变化的可能影响，但数据尚无定论。总体而言，CYP1A1 表达与鲸脂中的污染物负担无显著相关性。然而，样本量较小，无法进行详细的化学分析，并且检测显著关联的能力有限。
我们的大规模监测研究成功地确定了 CYP1A1 表达的区域差异，为该已知的芳烃受体激动剂暴露生物标志物提供了基线。但是，我们无法确定解释这种变化的因素。未来需要在全球范围内对鲸类皮肤活检中的 CYP1A1 表达进行研究，这可能揭示全球分布的化学物质是否以生物化学上相关的浓度存在，从而提供海洋完整性的衡量标准。
