title: Cadmium contamination in wild birds as an indicator of environmental pollution.
abstract: Cadmium (Cd) is an environmental pollutant that has serious toxicity in humans and animals and causes Itai-Itai disease. However, there is little available information on its contamination in wildlife as an indicator of environmental pollution. The Cd contents in the kidney and liver of 85 wild birds from 9 different prefectures in Japan were investigated. The ranges of the Cd contents in the kidney and liver in all birds were ND-174.4 and ND-21.2 microg g(-1) dry wt., respectively. The mean Cd contents were higher in the oil-contaminated birds than those in the non-contaminated ones. Furthermore, a strong correlation was obtained only between the Cd contents in the kidney and those in the liver of the oil-contaminated seabirds and not in the other non-contaminated ones. These results suggest that wild birds reflect the level of environmental contamination which should be monitored.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Public Health, Nippon Veterinary and Animal Science University, Tokyo, Japan. nvau-vph@interlink.or.jp
authors.forename: Mariko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mochizuki
authors.forename: Ryo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hondo
authors.forename: Kiichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kumon
authors.forename: Rei
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sasaki
authors.forename: Hironori
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Matsuba
authors.forename: Fukiko
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ueda
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild; D001717:Birds; D002104:Cadmium / Q000032:analysis / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D007668:Kidney / Q000737:chemistry; D008099:Liver / Q000737:chemistry; D014018:Tissue Distribution
chemical_list: D002104:Cadmium