PARENT SESSION
PM15 - Field Studies: Causal Relationships Between Exposure & Effect
Monday, 18 November 2002
8:00 AM to 6:30 PM
Exhibit Hall
(P357) Large Japanese Field Mice as Indicators of Environmental Exposure to Polychlorinated Compounds.
Ohtani, Shintaro*,1, Yuichi, Miyabara2,3, Yuzuru, Ishizuka1, Yuji, Kawai1, Akihisa, Izumo1, Noritoshi, Kawate4, Chiharu, Tohyama2, Yoshiro, Matsushita1, Kazuhiko, Nishimura1, 1 Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences Research Center of Osaka Prefecture, Habikino, Osaka, Japan2 National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan3 Shinshu University, Suwa, Nagano, Japan4 Osaka Prefecture University, Sakai, Osaka, Japan
ABSTRACT- The feasibility of using large Japanese field mice (Apodemus speciosus) as indicators of environmental contamination from polychlorinated compounds was examined. Mice weighing more than 20 g were captured around an incinerator observed soil contamination (contaminated group) and in a distant forest (reference group) in April and October 2001 and in April and May 2002 in Osaka. The total numbers in each group were 44 and 12, respectively. Results were expressed in terms of relative weights of heart, lung, liver, kidney and spleen (= organ weight / body weight x 1000). No seasonal or sexual differences were found in the concentrations of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, dibenzofurans and biphenyls (PCDDs, PCDFs and PCBs) in liver and so the data for each group were combined for statistical analysis. The mean concentrations of PCDDs, PCDFs and PCBs in the livers were 39.9, 208.7 and 109.9 TEQ (pg/wet-g), respectively, in the contaminated group and 16.4, 56.6 and 28.9 TEQ, respectively, in the reference group. The relative weights of the spleens of the contaminated group (4.91 +/- 0.54; mean +/- SEM) were significantly larger than those of the reference group (1.78 +/- 0.20). The relative weights of the kidney (13.77 +/- 0.33 and 12.62 +/- 0.39, respectively) were also significantly different. The relative weights of heart, liver and lung were not significantly different between the two groups. 1,2,3,4,6,7,8-HpCDD, 1,2,3,4,6,7,8,9-OCDF, 2,3,4,4,5,5-HxCB and 2,3,3,4,4,5,5-HpCB showed high multiple correlation coefficients with spleen weight. These results suggest that large Japanese field mice can be indicators of environmental contamination derived from incinerators. (Supported by the Sumitomo Foundation Grant 013352)
Key words: wild mice, polychlorinated compounds, environmental exposure, bioaccumulation