Naccari Clara, Ferrantelli Vincenzo, Cammilleri Gaetano, Galluzzo Francesco Giuseppe, Macaluso Andrea, Riolo Pietro, Lo Dico Gianluigi Maria, 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 Jul 14;14(14):2063. doi: 10.3390/ani14142063.
Dolphins, top predators of the aquatic food chain, are used as sentinel species of marine pollution as they are sensitive to environmental changes and able to accumulate a large content of contaminants. Several EU directives promote study of marine mammalians as bio-indicators to evaluate the presence of contaminants in the aquatic environment, such as the Mediterranean Sea, which is rich in environmental pollutants due to its geographic and geo-morphological characteristics. The aim of this study was to evaluate the content of toxic and essential metals and metalloids (Hg, Pb, Cd, As, Se and Zn), through ICP-MS analysis, in organs/tissues (liver, muscle, lung, kidney and skin) of striped dolphins () and common dolphins ) stranded along the Sicilian coastlines of the Mediterranean Sea. The results confirm the exposure of dolphins to toxic metals and metalloids, with the highest Hg levels observed in skin and liver, although a low Metal Pollution Index (MPI) was found in all samples of both dolphin species. From a comparative analysis of trace metals and metalloids according to sex and state of development, the highest levels of Cd and As were found in females vs. males and adults vs. juveniles, except for Pb in both species, and significant differences were observed between the two species, size of specimens, and organs/tissues analyzed. The highest Hg levels were correlated to those of essential metals Se and Zn, expressed as molar ratios, to evaluate the potential synergic effect of these detoxifying elements against Hg toxicity. This study confirms the rule of and as valid sentinel species of the Mediterranean Sea, to verify the trend of metals pollution in this aquatic environment and, consequently, the health of these marine species.
海豚作为水生食物链的顶级捕食者，由于对环境变化敏感且能够积累大量污染物，被用作海洋污染的指示物种。欧盟的几项指令推动将海洋哺乳动物作为生物指标进行研究，以评估水生环境中污染物的存在情况，比如地中海，因其地理和地貌特征而富含环境污染物。本研究的目的是通过电感耦合等离子体质谱分析（ICP-MS），评估搁浅在西西里岛地中海沿岸的条纹海豚（ ）和真海豚（ ）的器官/组织（肝脏、肌肉、肺、肾脏和皮肤）中有毒和必需金属及类金属（汞、铅、镉、砷、硒和锌）的含量。结果证实了海豚接触到有毒金属和类金属，皮肤和肝脏中的汞含量最高，不过在两种海豚的所有样本中金属污染指数（MPI）都较低。通过对按性别和发育状态分类的痕量金属和类金属进行比较分析，发现雌性相对于雄性以及成年个体相对于幼年个体中镉和砷的含量最高，但两种海豚中的铅含量除外，并且在两个物种、样本大小以及所分析的器官/组织之间观察到了显著差异。将汞的最高含量与必需金属硒和锌的含量以摩尔比表示进行关联，以评估这些解毒元素对汞毒性的潜在协同作用。本研究证实了 和 作为地中海有效指示物种的作用，以验证该水生环境中金属污染的趋势，进而验证这些海洋物种的健康状况。
