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Dried blood spots for estimating mercury exposure in birds
- Source :
- Environmental Pollution. 236:236-246
- Publication Year :
- 2018
- Publisher :
- Elsevier BV, 2018.
-
Abstract
- Mercury (Hg) is a pervasive environmental contaminant that can impair avian health, consequently there is a need to gauge exposures. Bird blood provides a measure of recent dietary exposure to Hg, but blood collection and storage can be complex and costly. Dried blood spots (DBS) may help overcome challenges of whole blood analyses, therefore, this study aimed to develop and validate a novel method to assess Hg exposure in birds using DBS. First, accuracy and precision of blood Hg concentrations for entire DBS and DBS punches were determined for white leghorn chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) dosed with methylmercury (MeHg) via egg injection. Next, we investigated Hg stability in chicken DBS subjected to time, temperature, and humidity treatments. Lastly, we applied the method to DBS created using standard field methods from zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttatato) in the laboratory and American golden-plover (Pluvalis dominica) sampled in the field. All samples were analyzed for total Hg (THg) using direct Hg analysis. Accuracy was determined by comparing DBS concentrations with those of corresponding whole blood and reported as percent recovery. Accuracy for entire chicken DBS was 101.8 ± 5.4%, while DBS punches revealed lower recovery (87.7 ± 4.0 to 92.4 ± 4.1%). There was little effect of time, temperature, and humidity storage treatments on Hg concentrations of DBS, with mean DBS THg concentrations within ±8% of whole blood (n = 10 treatments). For zebra finch, DBS punches were more accurate (93.7 ± 9.7%) compared to entire DBS (126.8 ± 19.4%). While for American golden-plover, entire DBS resulted in the most accurate THg concentrations (111.5 ± 7.6%) compared to DBS punches (edge: 115.4 ± 18.9%, interior: 131.4 ± 16.1%). Overall, results indicate that DBS analysis using direct Hg analysis can accurately evaluate Hg exposure in birds.
- Subjects :
- Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis
chemistry.chemical_element
010501 environmental sciences
Toxicology
01 natural sciences
chemistry.chemical_compound
Animal science
Limit of Detection
Animals
Dried blood
Methylmercury
Zebra finch
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Whole blood
Spots
010401 analytical chemistry
Reproducibility of Results
Environmental Exposure
Mercury
General Medicine
Methylmercury Compounds
MERCURY EXPOSURE
Pollution
nervous system diseases
0104 chemical sciences
Dried blood spot
Mercury (element)
surgical procedures, operative
nervous system
chemistry
Environmental Pollutants
Dried Blood Spot Testing
Chickens
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 02697491
- Volume :
- 236
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Environmental Pollution
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....29438cc90cc26458149d4312342619c6