Mercury in human hair as an indicator of the fish consumption.

OBJECTIVES: Mercury and most of its compounds are extremely toxic and should be handled with care. It can be inhaled and absorbed through the skin and mucous membranes. The most toxic forms of mercury are its organic compounds such as dimethylmercury and methylmercury. Fish have a natural tendency to accumulate mercury. Methylmercury is produced by microbial methylation of inorganic mercury in water sediment then it infiltrates the food chain and it consequently accumulates in fish. Fish are the main source of methylmercury in human food. Mercury is transferred into a hair; and this can be than used to monitor the long-term exposure to mercury. The content of mercury in hair depends on the frequency of fish consumption. The aim of our study was to compare mercury content in the hair of children that had various amounts of fish consumption (increased or reduced). DESIGN: Total mercury content in hair was determined by direct method of cold vapors using an AMA 245 analyzer. A total of 174 hair samples from the children (9-17 years old) were analyzed. In this study, the following localities were compared: Neratovice (n=42), Jeseníky (n=44), Prague (n=59) in Czech Republic and Olsztyn in Poland (n=29). Every sample was accompanied with questionnaire about age, gender, regions, amalgam fillings and fish consumption. RESULTS: We did not find a correlation between the content of mercury in hair with age, gender or amalgam fillings. We did find a correlation between fish consumption and the amount of mercury found in the hair samples. CONCLUSION: The amount of mercury in hair increases with more frequent consumption of freshwater and marine fish.

Detoxification and oxidative stress responses along with microcystins accumulation in Japanese quail exposed to cyanobacterial biomass.

The cyanobacterial exposure has been implicated in mass mortalities of wild birds, but information on the actual effects of cyanobacteria on birds in controlled studies is missing. Effects on detoxification and antioxidant parameters as well as bioaccumulation of microcystins (MCs) were studied in birds after sub-lethal exposure to natural cyanobacterial biomass. Four treatment groups of model species Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) were exposed to controlled doses of cyanobacterial bloom during acute (10 days) and sub-chronic (30 days) experiment. The daily doses of cyanobacterial biomass corresponded to 0.2-224.6 ng MCs/g body weight. Significant accumulation of MCs was observed in the liver for both test durations and slight accumulation also in the muscles of the highest treatment group from acute test. The greatest accumulation was observed in the liver of the highest treatment group in the acute test reaching average concentration of 43.7 ng MCs/g fresh weight. The parameters of detoxification metabolism and oxidative stress were studied in the liver, heart and brain. The cyanobacterial exposure caused an increase of activity of cytochrome P-450-dependent 7-ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase representing the activation phase of detoxification metabolism. Also the conjugation phase of detoxification, namely the activity of glutathione-S-transferase, was altered. Cyanobacterial exposure also modulated oxidative stress responses including the level of glutathione and activities of glutathione-related enzymes and caused increase in lipid peroxidation. The overall pattern of detoxification parameters and oxidative stress responses clearly separated the control and the lowest exposure group from all the higher exposed groups. This is the first controlled study documenting the induction of oxidative stress along with MCs accumulation in birds exposed to natural cyanobacterial biomass. The data also suggest that increased activities of detoxification enzymes could lead to greater biotransformation and elimination of the MCs at the longer exposure time.

Blood coagulation times in the European brown hare (Lepus europaeus).

BACKGROUND: Many causes of mortality in the European brown hare, such as bacterial and viral infections, anticoagulant poisoning, and trauma, may result in hemorrhage. There are, however, no reference values concerning blood clotting in this species. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to determine reference values for blood coagulation times and related parameters in healthy European brown hares. METHODS: Blood samples from 30 clinically healthy adult hares (15 males and 15 females) were obtained. Hares were physically restrained for blood collection from the cephalic vein into tubes containing citrate and EDTA. RESULTS: Mean +/- SD were obtained for thrombin time (TT) (13.97 +/- 1.37 seconds), prothrombin time (PT) (13.32 +/- 2.15 seconds), activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) (16.73 +/- 1.86 seconds), fibrinogen concentration (2.98 +/- 1.06 g/L), and platelet count (355.28 +/- 128.73 x 10(9)/L). CONCLUSIONS: Reference values for blood coagulation times and other parameters associated with blood clotting will be useful in the laboratory evaluation of hemorrhage in the European brown hare.