title: Organochlorine compounds in tissues of swordfish (Xiphias gladius) from Mediterranean Sea and Azores islands.
abstract: Polychlorobiphenyls (PCB) and organochlorine (OC) pesticides are endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs). The Italian Ministry of Environment has undertaken a program (1999-2001) to measure levels of contaminants in top marine predators and to develop sensitive biomarkers for the evaluation of toxicological risk in these species. In 1999, 15 swordfishes (Xiphias gladius) taken from the Mediterranean Sea along the Sicilian coast (Strait of Messina, Italy) and in the Atlantic Ocean along the Azores Islands, and analysed for 34 congeners of PCBs and 27 organochlorine (OC) pesticides in gonad, muscle, liver and blubber tissues. In the tissues of Mediterranean swordfishes the sum of the determined PCBs congeners ranged from 4.61 to 4651.17 ng g(-1) on fresh tissue basis. Among organochlorine pesticides DDE, DDT and DDD (TDE) predominated with an overall range of 2.37-4734.56 ng(-1) w.w. In particular p,p'-DDE had concentrations appearing up to 3900 ng(-1), with the highest values found in fatty tissues, such as blubber. In the liver of Azores Island swordfishes lower levels of summation PCBs (8.43-294.17 ng/g w.w.) and summation DDTs (<0.01-217.44 ng/g w.w.) were determined.
authors.affiliation: ISS, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Department of Environmental and Related Primary Prevention, Viale Regina Elena, 299-00161 Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Patrizia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Stefanelli
authors.forename: Antonella
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ausili
authors.forename: Alfonso
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Di Muccio
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fossi
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Di Muccio
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rossi
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Colasanti
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001267:Atlantic Ocean; D001822:Body Burden; D002849:Chromatography, Gas; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008522:Mediterranean Sea; D010473:Perciformes / Q000378:metabolism*; D010575:Pesticides / Q000032:analysis*; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D010575:Pesticides; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls