Contribution of fecal egestion to the whole body elimination of polychlorinated biphenyls by Japanese Koi (Cyprinus carpio)

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2010

Publication Title

Environmental Science and Technology

Volume

44

Issue

15

First Page

5769

Last Page

5774

Abstract

This research investigated dose-dependent whole body and fecal elimination of 39 polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners spanning a range of chemical hydrophobicities (log Kow) by the Japanese koi (Cyprinus carpio). Both whole body (ktot) and fecal (keg) PCB congener elimination rate coefficients were negatively correlated with log Kow and observed to be dose independent. PCB congener ktot values determined for koi were representative of those generated for fish species of similar size and reared at near optimal temperatures. For persistent and metabolized-type PCB congeners, no significant difference was observed between the regressions describing the relationships between ktot and log Kow for these congeners. Individual PCB congener keg coefficient estimates ranged between 1% and 20% of their respective k tot values but averaged only 5% of the magnitude of ktot over a log Kow range of 5.7-7.8. These results verify first-order kinetics of PCB elimination by a fish species and demonstrate that the relative contribution of keg to ktot is negligible, even for highly hydrophobic (log Kow > 6.5) compounds. It was concluded that gill elimination is the primary mechanism of elimination for persistent organic pollutants such as PCBs by Japanese koi. © 2010 American Chemical Society.

DOI

10.1021/es903348z

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS