Naccari Clara, Ferrantelli Vincenzo, Cammilleri Gaetano, Ruga Stefano, Castagna Fabio, Bava Roberto, Palma Ernesto
Department of Health Sciences, University "Magna Græcia" of Catanzaro, 88100 Catanzaro, Italy.
Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Sicilia "A. Mirri", 90129 Palermo, Italy.
Animals (Basel). 2024 May 21;14(11):1514. doi: 10.3390/ani14111514.
Heavy metals are environmental contaminants and can easily accumulate and biomagnify in various marine species (fishes and mammalians) at the top of the aquatic food chain. Among marine mammalians, the striped dolphin () is the most abundant cetacean in the Mediterranean Sea and is considered to be a sentinel species to monitor the environmental marine pollution. In this study, the contents of toxic metals and metalloids (Cd, Pb, Hg, and As), micro-elements (Ni, Cr, Cu, Fe, Co, Mn, Se and Zn) and macro-elements (Na, Ca, K, Mg and P) were evaluated by ICP-MS analysis in several organs/tissues (lung, skin, muscle and liver) of . The assessment of marine environmental pollution and dolphins health status was carried out through further analysis of the same specific parameters such as the metal pollution index (MPI) and coefficient of condition (K). Finally, the correlation between toxic metals and metalloids and essential micro-elements, expressed as molar ratios, was analyzed to evaluate the detoxifying ability (effectiveness) of Zn, Se and Cu. Data obtained showed the presence of toxic metals and metalloids analyzed in the samples but the MPI values suggested a low environmental contamination of the Mediterranean Sea where dolphins lived. The content of micro- and macro-elements was found to be in a normal range for this species and predictive of dolphins good health status, as confirmed by the coefficient of condition K. However, the correlation between toxic and essential metals, expressed as molar ratios, showed that the following toxic metals cannot be detoxified by the essential metals: Zn/Hg, Se/Hg, Cu/Hg and Zn/Cr, Se/Cr, Cu/Cr. Therefore, this study highlights the key role of dolphin to assess marine pollution and the importance of analyzing the complete mineral profile to evaluate the animal health status.
重金属是环境污染物，容易在水生食物链顶端的各种海洋物种（鱼类和哺乳动物）中积累并生物放大。在海洋哺乳动物中，条纹海豚是地中海中数量最多的鲸类动物，被认为是监测海洋环境污染的指示物种。在本研究中，通过电感耦合等离子体质谱分析法（ICP-MS）评估了条纹海豚几个器官/组织（肺、皮肤、肌肉和肝脏）中有毒金属和类金属（镉、铅、汞和砷）、微量元素（镍、铬、铜、铁、钴、锰、硒和锌）以及常量元素（钠、钙、钾、镁和磷）的含量。通过进一步分析相同的特定参数，如金属污染指数（MPI）和状况系数（K），对海洋环境污染和海豚健康状况进行了评估。最后，分析了有毒金属和类金属与必需微量元素之间以摩尔比表示的相关性，以评估锌、硒和铜的解毒能力（有效性）。所获得的数据表明在条纹海豚样本中存在所分析的有毒金属和类金属，但MPI值表明海豚生活的地中海环境污染程度较低。发现微量元素和常量元素的含量在该物种的正常范围内，并且状况系数K证实这预示着海豚的健康状况良好。然而，以摩尔比表示的有毒金属与必需金属之间的相关性表明，以下有毒金属不能被必需金属解毒：锌/汞、硒/汞、铜/汞以及锌/铬、硒/铬、铜/铬。因此, 本研究强调了条纹海豚在评估海洋污染方面的关键作用以及分析完整矿物质谱以评估动物健康状况的重要性。
