PMID- 20579736
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20100921
LR  - 20100712
IS  - 1873-6750 (Electronic)
IS  - 0160-4120 (Linking)
VI  - 36
IP  - 7
DP  - 2010 Oct
TI  - Accumulation of background levels of persistent organochlorine and organobromine 
      pollutants through the soil-earthworm-hedgehog food chain.
PG  - 721-7
LID - 10.1016/j.envint.2010.05.006 [doi]
AB  - The bioaccumulation of persistent organic pollutants (POPs), such as 
      polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and DDT 
      and metabolites, was investigated in the soil-earthworm-hedgehog food chain. 
      Concentrations of selected POPs were measured in soil and earthworms collected in 
      grassland and open woodland and in hair and blood of hedgehogs foraging in two 
      parks containing these habitats. Despite background concentrations in soil 
      (ranging from 1.3 to 9.3 ng/g for DDTs, 2.3 to 6.5 ng/g for PCBs and 0.08 to 0.20 
      ng/g for PBDEs), biota-soil accumulation factors (BSAFs) indicated that 
      earthworms accumulated POPs (0.48-1.70 for DDTs, 1.09-2.76 for PCBs and 1.99-5.67 
      for PBDEs) and that animals feeding on earthworms are potentially exposed to 
      higher concentrations of pollutants. BSAFs decreased with increasing soil 
      concentrations for the three groups of compounds, suggesting that steady-state 
      equilibrium was not reached in soil or earthworms. Positive, but low, log-linear 
      relationships were found for DDT (r(2)=0.23, p<0.05 for Brasschaat and r(2)=0.63, 
      p<0.01 for Hoboken) and PCB (r(2)=0.13, p<0.05 for both parks) concentrations 
      between soil and earthworms. In order to relate earthworm to hedgehog POP 
      concentrations, the foraging behavior of each individual was taken into account. 
      The use of hair as a potential biomonitoring tissue in exposure and risk 
      assessment of POPs was evaluated by examining the relationship between PCB and 
      p,p'-DDE levels in hedgehogs' hair and blood. Contaminant profiles were used to 
      gain insight into biotransformation of the studied compounds in each step of the 
      investigated food chain and in the blood of hedgehogs, as well as the 
      consequences thereof for their incorporation in hair. The absence of a 
      discernable relationship between POP concentrations in earthworms and hair is 
      possible due to variation in individual foraging behavior and POP uptake. Our 
      results suggest that POPs in tissues should be measured from an adequate number 
      of individuals per population instead of relying on indirect estimates from 
      levels in soil or prey items.
CI  - Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
FAU - Vermeulen, Frouke
AU  - Vermeulen F
AD  - Ecophysiology, Biochemistry and Toxicology Group (U7), University of Antwerp, 
      Groenenborgerlaan 171, B-2020 Antwerp, Belgium. frouke.vermeulen@ua.ac.be
FAU - Covaci, Adrian
AU  - Covaci A
FAU - D'Have, Helga
AU  - D'Have H
FAU - Van den Brink, Nico W
AU  - Van den Brink NW
FAU - Blust, Ronny
AU  - Blust R
FAU - De Coen, Wim
AU  - De Coen W
FAU - Bervoets, Lieven
AU  - Bervoets L
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
DEP - 20100626
PL  - Netherlands
TA  - Environ Int
JT  - Environment international
JID - 7807270
RN  - 0 (Hydrocarbons, Brominated)
RN  - 0 (Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated)
RN  - 0 (Soil Pollutants)
SB  - IM
MH  - Animals
MH  - Environmental Monitoring/*methods
MH  - Food Chain
MH  - Hair/metabolism
MH  - Hedgehogs/blood/*metabolism
MH  - Hydrocarbons, Brominated/*analysis/metabolism
MH  - Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated/*analysis/metabolism
MH  - Oligochaeta/*metabolism
MH  - Soil Pollutants/*analysis/metabolism
EDAT- 2010/06/29 06:00
MHDA- 2010/09/23 06:00
CRDT- 2010/06/29 06:00
PHST- 2009/11/11 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2010/05/12 00:00 [revised]
PHST- 2010/05/14 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2010/06/29 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2010/06/29 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2010/09/23 06:00 [medline]
AID - S0160-4120(10)00092-9 [pii]
AID - 10.1016/j.envint.2010.05.006 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Environ Int. 2010 Oct;36(7):721-7. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2010.05.006. Epub 2010 
      Jun 26.