title: Polychlorinated biphenyls in sediments and fish species from the Murchison Bay of Lake Victoria, Uganda.
abstract: Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were determined in sediments and two fish species collected from the Murchison Bay in Lake Victoria, using high resolution gas chromatography coupled to a high resolution mass spectrometer. Total PCB concentrations (Σ18PCBs) varied widely with mean values ranging from 777 to 4325pg g(-1) dry weight (dw) for sediments and 80 to 779pg g(-1) wet weight (ww) for fish. The PCB levels in the sediments were significantly higher at the station closest to Nakivubo channel, presumably due to effluents discharged by the channel, which may contain domestically produced commercial PCB mixtures. For fish, the concentrations in Nile perch (Lates niloticus) were significantly greater than those in Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) at all study stations, possibly due to dietary differences among species. World Health Organization-toxic equivalents (WHO2005-TEQs) for the dioxin-like PCBs were 0.04-0.64pg g(-1) dw and 0.01-0.39pg g(-1) ww for sediments and fish, respectively. The non-ortho PCBs exhibited the highest contribution to the Σ12TEQs (>75%) compared to the mono-ortho PCBs in both fish species. The TEQs in the present study were lower than many reported worldwide in literature for fish and were within the permissible level recommended by the European Commission, implying that the fish did not pose health hazards related to PCBs to the consumers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Makerere University, P.O. Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda; State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ssebugere
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Green Chemistry, Lappeenranta University of Technology, Sammonkatu 12, 50130 Mikkeli, Finland.
authors.forename: Mika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sillanpää
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
authors.forename: Pu
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
authors.forename: Yingming
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Makerere University, P.O. Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda.
authors.forename: Bernard T
authors.initials: BT
authors.lastname: Kiremire
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Makerere University, P.O. Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda.
authors.forename: Gabriel N
authors.initials: GN
authors.lastname: Kasozi
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
authors.forename: Chaofei
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
authors.forename: Daiwei
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
authors.forename: Nali
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
authors.forename: Haidong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
authors.forename: Hongtao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China. Electronic address: qhzhang@rcees.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Qinghua
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
authors.forename: Guibin
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Jiang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005399:Fishes / Q000378:metabolism*; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000737:chemistry*; D060106:Lakes / Q000737:chemistry; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism; D014454:Uganda; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls
keywords: Fish; Lake Victoria; Murchison Bay; Polychlorinated biphenyls; Sediments