Polycyclic aromatic compound fractions were resolved from vertebrate fish tissue and analyzed by capillary column gas chromatography. The analytical procedure includes the following steps: aqueous alkaline digestion, acidification of the digestate with glacial acetic acid, extraction with methylene chloride, liquid-liquid partitioning with water and then a 10% KOH solution, adsorption chromatography on basic alumina, using hexane, benzene, and chloroform sequentially, gel permeation chromatography on BioBeads with methylene chloride, and capillary gas chromatography and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Examples of chromatograms of the polycyclic aromatic compound fractions from fish from polluted and pristine waterways are given. The limit of detection is less than 0.2 ppb (ng/g wet tissue), and average recovery is 72% of spiked /sup 14/C-labeled anthracene.

Capillary gas chromatographic determination of polycyclic aromatic compounds in vertebrate fish tissue.

Hepatic ethoxyresorufin 0-de-ethylase (EROD) and benzo(a)pyrene hydroxylase (B(a)PH) activity in flounder Platichthys flesus increased along a pollution gradient in Langesundfjord, examined during the GEEP Workshop. EROD activity in fish from a reference site was around 100 pm01 min-' mg microsomal protein-', increasing 5-fold at 2 moderately polluted sites and a further 2-fold at a more highly polluted site. B(a)PH activity was around 30 pm01 min-' mg protein-' in fish from the reference site, and was more than doubled at the polluted sites. Liver residue concentrations of several industrially-derived chlorinated hydrocarbons also increased along the pollution gradient. The data support the conclusion that fish hepatic mono-oxygenase activity may indicate exposure to organic pollutants in the field. Exposure of flounder to diesel oil and copper in mesocosms over several months dld not induce EROD or B(a)PH. Enzyme activities were all below those at the field reference site (EROD and B(a)PH around 70 and 20 pm01 min-' mg proteln-' respectively). Total PAH concentrations in liver (fluorescence measurements) did not vary with treatment, suggesting that the expenmentally exposed fish &d not accumulate inducing compounds.

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Hepatic microsomal mono-oxygenase activity in flounder Platichthys flesus from polluted sites in Langesundfjord and from mesocosms experimentally dosed with diesel oil and copper

Fresh and processed commercial seafoods were analyzed for the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon carcinogen benzo(a)pyrene using a thin-layer chromatographic separation technique and quantitation by f...

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Carcinogens in Commercial Seafoods

Optimisation and validation of an HPLC method for determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in mussels.

Sediments on the Gulf of Mexico continental slope contain a mixture of terrigenous, petroleum and planktonic hydrocarbons. The relative amount of these three inputs varies as a function of location, water depth, and time of sampling. The hydrocarbon concentrations measured are generally lower than those previously reported for shelf and coastal Gulf of Mexico sediments. The influence of land-derived material decreases from the central to the western to the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Petroleum inputs are measurable at all sites sampled. Natural seepage was considered to be a significant source of hydrocarbons to slope sediments. Hydrocarbon concentrations vary by 1–2 orders of magnitude along a given isobath due to changes in sediment texture and hydrocarbon inputs. Variability along an isobath is as great if not greater than that seen over a depth range of 300–3000 m along a single transect. In general, the highest aliphatic hydrocarbon concentrations are associated with the more clayish/organic-rich sediments. Aromatic hydrocarbons are below gas chromatographic detection limits at all sites (<5 ppb), but their presence is inferred from spectrofluorescence analyses, confirming the presence of petroleum-related hydrocarbons at all sites.

Bruce P. Dunn

Papers

Techniques for determination of benzo(a)pyrene in marine organisms and sediments