Department of Biosciences and Diagnostic Imaging, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA.
Ecotoxicology. 2012 Nov;21(8):2331-7. doi: 10.1007/s10646-012-0989-x. Epub 2012 Aug 18.
Avian wildlife species commonly ingest lead (Pb) spent shot or bullet fragments as grit or mistakenly as food. In previous studies in our laboratory and others, the toxicity varied based on the diet as well as type and quantity of Pb ingested. In the current study, domestic pigeons were gavaged with 1, 2, or 3 Pb pellets and then followed with weekly radiographs and blood physiologic endpoints for 28 days. Pellet retention decreased by roughly 50 % per week as pellets were either absorbed or excreted, except for week 4 where pellet number no longer was diminished. Size of retained pellets visually decreased over retention time. Birds dosed with a single #9 pellet showed mean blood Pb levels over 80 times higher than those of the controls, verifying Pb pellet absorption from the gut. A single Pb pellet also reduced plasma δ-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase (δ-ALAD) activity by over 80 % compared to controls, suggesting the potential for population injury in Pb pellet-exposed pigeons.
禽类野生动物通常会吞食铅（Pb）弹丸或弹片作为砂粒或误食。在我们实验室和其他实验室的先前研究中，毒性因饮食以及摄入的 Pb 类型和数量而异。在当前的研究中，给家鸽灌胃 1、2 或 3 个 Pb 弹丸，然后每周进行 X 光检查和血液生理终点检测 28 天。随着时间的推移，除了第 4 周，弹丸数量不再减少外，弹丸的保留率每周大约减少 50%。视觉上保留的弹丸的大小随着保留时间的延长而减小。单次投喂#9 弹丸的鸟类的血液 Pb 水平平均值比对照组高出 80 多倍，证实了 Pb 弹丸从肠道吸收。与对照组相比，单个 Pb 弹丸还使血浆 δ-氨基酮戊酸脱水酶（δ-ALAD）活性降低了 80%以上，这表明 Pb 弹丸暴露的鸽子可能会对种群造成伤害。
