Toxic and Essential Metals in Stenella coeruleoalba: Assessment of Marine Environmental Pollution and Dolphin Health Status

first_page Download PDF settings Order Article Reprints Font Type: Arial Georgia Verdana Font Size: Aa Aa Aa Line Spacing:    Column Width:    Background: Open AccessAbstract Toxic and Essential Metals in Stenella coeruleoalba: Assessment of Marine Environmental Pollution and Dolphin Health Status † by Clara NaccariClara Naccari SciProfiles Scilit Preprints.org Google Scholar 1,*, Vincenzo FerrantelliVincenzo Ferrantelli SciProfiles Scilit Preprints.org Google Scholar 2, Roberto BavaRoberto Bava SciProfiles Scilit Preprints.org Google Scholar 1 and Ernesto PalmaErnesto Palma SciProfiles Scilit Preprints.org Google Scholar 1 1 Department of Health Sciences, Univerisity "Magna Graecia" of Catanzaro, 88100 Catanzaro, Italy 2 Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Sicilia "A. Mirri", 90129 Palermo, Italy * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. † Presented at the 1st International Electronic Conference on Toxics, 20–22 March 2024; Available online: https://sciforum.net/event/IECTO2024. Proceedings 2024, 102(1), 31; https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2024102031 Published: 3 April 2024 Download keyboard_arrow_down Download PDF Download PDF with Cover Download XML Download Epub Versions Notes Keywords: toxic and essential metals; Stenella coeruleoalba; marine environmental pollution 1. IntroductionHeavy metals are environmental contaminants and can easily accumulate and biomagnificate in various species (fishes and mammalians) at the top of the aquatic food chain. Among marine mammalians, the common dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba) is used as a sentinel species of environmental pollution. The aim of this study was to determine the content of toxic metals in organs of Stenella coeruleoalba in comparison with essential elements, and to assess marine environmental pollution and dolphin health status. 2. Materials and MethodsSamples of liver, lung, muscle, and skin of Stenella coeruleoalba (n = 18 dolphins) were digested with HNO3 (70%) and H2O2 (30%) and submitted to analysis in ICP-MS for the determination of toxic (Hg, Cd, Pb, and As) and potentially toxic (Cr and Ni) metals and essential micro (Se, Zn, Cu, Fe, and Mn) and macro (Na, Ca, K, and Mg) elements. 3. ResultsThe results showed the presence of all analyzed metals, with the highest Hg levels in all dolphin samples. The correlation between toxic (Hg, Cd, Pb, and As) and potentially toxic (Cr and Ni) metals and essential micro-elements (Zn, Se, and Cu) was expressed as molar ratios. The ratios were 1 (value considered as a protection index) for 66Zn/201Hg, 82Se/201Hg, and 63Cu/201Hg and for 66Zn/52Cr, 82Se/52Cr, and 63Cu/52Cr in all organs, showing that toxic metals cannot be detoxified by these essential metals. However, the concentrations of all micro and macroelements were normal and predictive of dolphins' health status. 4. ConclusionsThe presence of toxic metals in organs of dolphins is correlated to marine environmental pollution and influenced by their food habits. The content of micro and macro-elements, introduced through diet, informs dolphins' health status, although detoxifying essential metals are unable to carry out protective action against toxic metals, probably due to the deficiency, sequestration, or presence of other pollutants. Author ContributionsConceptualization, C.N. and V.F.; formal analysis, C.N.; methodology, C.N. and V.F.; investigation, C.N.; data curation, C.N.; validation, C.N.; writing— original draft preparation, C.N. and E.P.; writing—review and editing, C.N., V.F., R.B. and E.P.; supervision, E.P. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.FundingThis research received no external funding.Institutional Review Board StatementThere is no need of ethical approval for this study because the striped dolphins stranded death along the Sicilian coast were collected by the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Sicilia "A. Mirri", Palermo (Italy).Informed Consent StatementNot applicable because this is a study not involving humans.Data Availability StatementThis article reports preliminary data presented to 1Th IECTO 2024.Conflicts of InterestThe authors declare no conflict of interest.Disclaimer/Publisher's Note: The statements, opinions and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of MDPI and/or the editor(s). MDPI and/or the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content. © 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Share and Cite MDPI and ACS Style Naccari, C.; Ferrantelli, V.; Bava, R.; Palma, E. Toxic and Essential Metals in Stenella coeruleoalba: Assessment of Marine Environmental Pollution and Dolphin Health Status. Proceedings 2024, 102, 31. https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2024102031 AMA Style Naccari C, Ferrantelli V, Bava R, Palma E. Toxic and Essential Metals in Stenella coeruleoalba: Assessment of Marine Environmental Pollution and Dolphin Health Status. Proceedings. 2024; 102(1):31. https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2024102031 Chicago/Turabian Style Naccari, Clara, Vincenzo Ferrantelli, Roberto Bava, and Ernesto Palma. 2024. "Toxic and Essential Metals in Stenella coeruleoalba: Assessment of Marine Environmental Pollution and Dolphin Health Status" Proceedings 102, no. 1: 31. https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2024102031 Article Metrics No No Article Access Statistics Multiple requests from the same IP address are counted as one view.