Toxic (Pb, Cd, Hg) and essential (Fe, Cu, Zn, Mn) metal content of liver tissue of some domestic and bush animals in Ghana

Analysis of Fibropapillomatosis in Roe Deer (Capreolus capreolus) Confirms High Content of Heavy Metals

In recent decades, there has been an increase in European wild ungulate populations, often associated with a decline in health and spread of disease. This is true for the roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), the most common European cervid, with populations apparently affected by fibropapillomatosis, an increasingly common cancer. To date, however, there has been little research into this disease, thus many interactions remain unclear and descriptions of tumour composition are poorly validated. The main aim of the present study was to evaluate the presence and concentration of toxic heavy metals in roe deer skin tumours. Our results confirmed the presence of virtually all the metals tested for, i.e., Pb, Hg, Cd, As, Cr, Mn, Al, Co, Cu, Ni, Se, Zn, and Fe, with the highest average concentrations found for Cr (0.99 mg/kg-1 ± 2.23 SD), Cd (0.03 mg/kg-1 ± 0.03 SD), and Hg (0.02 mg/kg-1 ± 0.02 SD), exceeding FAO limits for meat from slaughtered animals. We also observed a significant positive relationship between heavy metal concentration and age, especially for Pb, As, Hg, Mn, Se, Al, Zn, and Ni. Our findings provide a strong baseline for further research on the impact of fibropapillomatosis, not only on the welfare and health status of game but also on the final consumer of venison, which in many respects is regarded as a high-quality, ecological, and renewable wild resource. While deer with this disease are not considered qualitatively or medically defective, they could represent a potential reservoir of substances toxic to humans and could affect substance levels in adjacent tissues or the animal as a whole.

Occurrence of Toxic Metals and Metalloids in Muscle and Liver of Italian Heavy Pigs and Potential Health Risk Associated with Dietary Exposure

Muscle and liver tissues from Italian heavy pigs were analyzed to investigate whether the chronic consumption of these products by local consumers could represent a health risk in relation to the contamination by some toxic metals and metalloids (TMMs). The concentrations of Al, As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb, Sn, U, and Zn were measured with an inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometer, while Hg analysis was performed by using a mercury analyzer. Fe, Zn, and Cu were the most abundant elements in both tissues, while U was detected only at ultra-trace levels. As, Cd, Cu, Fe, Hg, Pb, U, and Zn showed significantly higher concentrations in livers compared to muscles (p ≤ 0.01), with Cd and Cu being 60- and 9-fold more concentrated in the hepatic tissue. Despite this, concentrations of all TMMs were found to be very low in all the samples to the point that the resulting estimated dietary intakes did not suggest any food safety concern. Indeed, intakes were all below the toxicological health-based guidance values or resulted in low margins of exposure. Nevertheless, in the calculation of the worst-case exposure scenario, the children's estimated intake of Cd, Fe, and Zn through the sole consumption of pig liver contributed to more than 23, 38, and 39% of the tolerable weekly intakes of these elements, while the combined consumption of pig liver and pig muscle to more than 24, 46, and 76%. These findings alert about the probability of exceeding the toxicological guidance values of Cd, Fe, and Zn though the whole diet, suggesting long-term negative health effects for the younger population.

Health Risk Assessment for Human Exposure to Trace Metals Via Bushmeat in Ghana

Consumption and trade in bushmeat are entrenched in sub-Saharan Africa amid growing land degradation and environmental pollution that raise safety concerns, yet sustainability of bushmeat extraction and zoonoses considerations have been the focus of bushmeat research. Here, we evaluated the health risk of trace metals in the skeletal muscle, bone, liver, and skin of the black duiker (Cephalophus niger), brush-tailed porcupine (Atherurus africanus), bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus), cane rat (Thryonomys swinderianus), and Maxwell's duiker (Cephalophus maxwelli) being the five most hunted and consumed species of bushmeat in Ghana. Sample tissues of the five species were analyzed for Cu, Zn, Se, Cd, As, Pb, and Hg. Targeted hazard quotient (THQ) of Se for black duiker, bushback, and Maxwell's duiker as well as that of Pb for black duiker, Brush-tailed porcupine, and Maxwell's duiker were concerning (> 1) for individuals foraging daily on bushmeat. Thus, cane rat was the only species that recorded both estimated daily intake (EDI) and THQ of Se and Pb within safe limits for daily consumption. In respect of Cu, Zn, Cd, As, and Hg, EDI and THQ values indicated no perceived risk to consumers for all five species. Lifetime cancer risk (CR) of As was negligible for all species. At the rate of bushmeat consumption in sub-Saharan Africa (0.104 kg per day), the cane rat was the only species considered safe for daily consumption among the five species.

An automated computer vision based preliminary study for the identification of a heavy metal (Hg) exposed fish-channa punctatus

Fishes available in the market may be cultured either in fresh or contaminated water bodies. Heavy metals are one of those contaminants which may cause menace to fish health and thereby affect the health of living beings consuming them. The identification of heavy metal residues in fish samples is a challenging task and may require expensive and sophisticated instruments and testing. This paper investigates visual changes which may be used as benchmark for differentiating between fresh water and heavy metal exposed fishes. The proposed method is an automated non-destructive image processing method for identifying visual changes which can be used to differentiate between controlled (untreated) and heavy metals exposed (treated) fishes. The eye of the fish from digital images is considered as focal tissue that was automatically segmented using the Circular Hough Transform and adaptive intensity thresholding. Post segmentation, a potential feature is identified and transformed into mathematical parameters for classification of a fish sample as fresh or heavy metal exposed water fish. The proposed method can identify and translate the potential visual feature for ease of understanding. The accuracy of the proposed method is high, and computation time elapsed indicates the possibility of using such algorithm for real time detection in related field.

A regional approach for the calculation of characteristic toxicity factors using the USEtox model

The lack of the spatial coverage as one of the main limitations of the Life-cycle impact assessment (LCIA) models leads to disagreement between their results. The USEtox model is only model that provides 8 continental and 17 subcontinental zones but does not consider the wind and water transfers affected areas around the source of pollution. Current investigation proposes the way to reduce this limitation by using the results of chemical analysis (instrumental neutron activation analysis "INAA") of pork meat as a regional indicator of anthropogenic influence. The concentration coefficient of Cr by replacing the Bioaccumulation factor (BAF) is extrapolated into the calculation of Exposure factor (XF) to modify Characterization factor (CF). Impacted and clean areas of Tomsk district (Russia) placed around Northern industrial hub (Seversk city) are studied. Neither area is located directly in the industrial hub, but the impacted area is under an anthropogenic influence due to air and water transfer of pollution. Results of our investigation present the difference between results of own investigation and default values of USEtox. Probably the model can minimize the impact because of lack of experiment data in the database. The database can be extended more with other analytical results for wide range of metals and geographical locations.

Effects of furosemide administration on the concentration of essential and toxic elements in Wistar rats by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry

Furosemide can interfere with the metabolism of chemical elements, changing their levels in several tissues, thus causing imbalance. In this study, inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP OES) was used for multi-element analysis (Cd, Cu, Fe, Mg, Pb, Se and Zn) after microwave-assisted digestion, to evaluate the effect of furosemide (loop diuretic) on the composition of these essential and toxic elements in biological samples (liver, kidney, heart, lung and serum) of Wistar rats. Male and female Wistar rats (n = 40, 180-350 g) were randomly divided into 2 groups (n = 20/group). The results were expressed as μg/g dry weight. The mean tissue concentrations (minimum-maximum in μg/g) of Cu, Fe, Mg and Zn in the biological samples ranged between 5.2 and 1023.5. The levels of Cd, Pb and Se were below the detection limit of the ICP OES. Accuracy was assessed by microwave-assisted digestion and recovery values of 83-116% were obtained. Liver had significantly higher trace element concentrations in most of the analyzed samples. Mg showed a significant reduction (for males and females) in its levels in the heart. In both genders, there was similarity in the Cu concentration reduction (around 16%) for all tissues. The highest iron losses were found for serum (52% and 12%) for male and female rats, respectively. Reductions in Zn occurred between 0.3 and 18.0%, mainly for kidneys and heart, respectively. This study demonstrated that furosemide altered the concentration of some elements in rats.

Mineral composition and toxic element levels of muscle, liver and kidney of intensive (Swedish Landrace) and extensive (Mangulica) pigs from Serbia

Mineral composition (Fe, Zn, Cu, Mn, Se, Cr, Co, Ni, Na, K, Mg, Ca) and toxic element levels (Cd, Pb, Hg, As) of soil, feed and tissue (muscle, liver and kidney) from intensive (Swedish Landrace, housed indoors, fed a known diet, 4 years) and extensive (Mangulica, free-roaming, non-specified diet, 7-8 months) pigs were determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Controlled nutrition produced pigs with higher concentrations of most minerals (muscle: Mn, Se, K, Mg; liver: Zn, Cu, Mn, Se, Cr, Ca; kidney: Zn, Cu, Mn, Se, K, Mg), but for Fe the opposite trend was found. Long-term free-ranging pigs have a higher risk of contamination by toxic elements (Cd exceeded the maximum residue level in kidney). Principal component analysis and cluster analysis were used to assess the effect of different pig breed/lifestyle (pig type) on element composition of muscle, liver and kidney of pigs. Multivariate data analysis showed good discriminating capabilities.

Liver concentrations of copper, zinc, iron and molybdenum in sheep and goats from northern Greece, determined by energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry

Energy-dispersive X-Ray fluorescence spectrometry was used to determine the concentrations of copper (Cu), zinc, iron and molybdenum in the liver of 76 sheep and goats from the regions of Macedonia-Thrace, northern Greece. In general, metal concentrations were in the adequate range, with one main exception of Cu-deficiency observed in all of the examined goat liver samples and Cu-toxicity found in 4 % of the sheep liver samples. One-way analysis of variance was carried out to determine significant differences among means depending on animal species, sex and age. Pearson correlation analysis was used to explore correlations between metal concentrations. The results obtained in the present study are discussed in the framework of diagnostic ranges, suggested for classifying the metal status of sheep and goats, and are compared with liver metal concentrations reported world-wide.

Dietary intake and health risk assessment of lead and cadmium via consumption of cow meat for an urban population in Enugu State, Nigeria

The study assessed the dietary intake of lead and cadmium and health risk from consumption of various parts of cow meat by the urban population of Enugu State, Nigeria. Meat samples (n=150) comprising of muscle, liver, kidney, intestine and tripe were purchased from abattoirs in Nsukka and Enugu. The samples were dried, ground and two gram was digested with 3:2 HNO3:HClO4 v/v. The Cd and Pb concentrations were read with an atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The dietary intakes were estimated using a one week food frequency questionnaire administered to 755 subjects. The dietary intake of lead (µg/kg body weight/week) were in the following ranges; men [0.15 (kidney)-0.55(intestine)], non pregnant/non lactating women [0.16 (kidney)-0.62 (liver)], pregnant/lactating women [0.13 (kidney)-0.53 (intestine)], undergraduate students [0.12 (kidney)-0.62 (intestine)] and school children [0.29 (kidney)-1.16 (liver)]; cadmium: men [0.42 (liver)-1.21 (tripe)], non-pregnant/non-lactating women [0.53 (kidney)-1.20 (tripe)], pregnant/lactating women [0.43 (kidney)-0.90 (intestine)], undergraduate students [0.40 (kidney)-1.18 (tripe)] and school children [0.97 (kidney)-1.93 (tripe)]. The total dietary intakes of lead from the various cow meat parts by the groups were much lower than the provisional tolerable weekly intake (PTWI) guide line, but for cadmium, the intakes were quite appreciable when compared to the PTWI guideline while the intake for school children was very high, 113% of PTWI for the metal. The target hazard quotients were in the range of 0.05-0.10 for lead and 0.42-0.90 for cadmium. These values are less than one, indicating that the subjects are not exposed to any significant health risk via cow meat consumption.

Monitoring programme on toxic metal in bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix), anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus) and sardine (Sardina pilchardus) from Istanbul, Turkey: levels and estimated weekly intake

Toxic metal (Hg, Cd, Pb, Cu and Zn) concentrations of small-medium bluefish, anchovy and sardine in Istanbul, Turkey, were determined using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) throughout 1 year. The concentrations of pollutants were found to vary according to season and species. Estimates of weekly intake levels of the metals were calculated and compared to recommended safe limits for fish consumption by humans. The levels of Cd, Pb, Cu and Zn in the fillets of all species resulted in estimates of weekly intake levels that were lower than the recommended safe limits. The concentrations of Hg of small bluefish in September, of medium bluefish in June and September, of anchovy in March, and of sardine in August and September resulted in estimates of weekly intake levels that were higher than the recommended safe limits for human consumption.