2022 journal article

Age-related accumulation of persistent organic chemicals in captive king penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus)

JOURNAL OF VETERINARY MEDICAL SCIENCE, 84(11), 1551–1555.

By: T. Terajima*, A. Shibahara, Y. Nakano, S. Kobayashi*, J. Godwin n, K. Nagaoka*, G. Watanabe*, H. Takada*, K. Mizukawa*

co-author countries: Japan 🇯🇵 United States of America 🇺🇸
author keywords: benzotriazole-based ultraviolet stabilizers; blood; dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene; marine bird; polychlorinated biphenyls
MeSH headings : Animals; Spheniscidae; Polychlorinated Biphenyls / analysis; Dichlorodiphenyl Dichloroethylene; Organic Chemicals
Source: Web Of Science
Added: March 6, 2023

Persistent organic chemicals are non-biodegradable in nature and have a tendency to bioaccumulate in the top organisms of the food chain. We measured persistent organic chemicals, including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE), and benzotriazole-based ultraviolet stabilizers (UV-BTs), in the serum of captive king penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus) using gas chromatography with an electron capture detector and mass spectrometry to examine their age-related accumulation. PCBs, DDE, UV-PS, and UV-9 were detected in the blood of captive king penguins, and the concentrations of total PCBs, DDE, and UV-9 were positively correlated with age. These results suggest that there is a similar age-related accumulation of persistent organic chemicals in marine birds in the wild, and that older individuals are at a higher risk of contamination.