Determination of Anthropogenic Pollutants in Adipose Tissue of the Caspian Seal Pusa caspica Gmelin, 1788 by High-Resolution Accurate Mass Spectrometry

• Published in: Doklady. Biological sciences Vol. 518; no. 1; pp. 107 - 111
• Main Authors: Shelepchikov, A. A., Kudryavtseva, A. D., Brodsky, E. S., Mir-Kadyrova, E. Ya, Solovyeva, M. A., Klimov, F. V., Rozhnov, V. V.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Moscow Pleiades Publishing 2024; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adipose tissue; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Body fat; Ethers; Evolutionary Biology; Gas chromatography; Life Sciences; Mass spectrometry; Mass spectroscopy; Organochlorine pesticides; PCB; Persistent organic pollutants; Pesticides; Plant Sciences; Pollutants; Polybrominated diphenyl ethers; Polychlorinated biphenyls; Polychlorinated naphthalenes; Pusa caspica; Scientific imaging; Caspian seal; high-resolution accurate mass spectrometry; organic pollutants; gas chromatography–mass spectrometry
• ISSN: 0012-4966; 1608-3105; 1608-3105
• DOI: 10.1134/S0012496624600180

Tissue contamination with persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in organisms proved possible to comprehensively characterize in a single test by combining gas chromatography and high-resolution accurate mass spectrometry. Adipose tissue samples were collected from two Caspian seals ( Pusa caspica Gmelin, 1788) found dead on the Caspian Sea shore in 2020. Organochlorine pesticides, primarily DDT and HCH, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were major pollutants found in the Caspian seals. The distribution of metabolites indicated the absence of recent pesticide use. The PCB content was relatively high, but still at the lower limit of the range of values determined previously, as was also the case with pesticides. Chlordanes, polychlorinated naphthalenes, and polybrominated diphenyl ethers were detected in minor quantities and were therefore not considered to be major pollutants of the Caspian seal. The pollutant levels were below a threshold at which a distinct effect on seal health can be expected. High-resolution accurate mass (HRAM) spectrometry was found to provide a convenient tool for both targeted and nontargeted analyses of a wide range of organic pollutants in a single experiment.