Issue 9, 2011

Assessment of PAH pollution in the southern Baltic Sea through the analysis of sediment, mussels and fish bile

Abstract

The concentrations of fifteen PAH compounds in samples of sediment and blue mussel tissue (Mytilus trossulus) were measured. In addition, the biliary polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon metabolites present in flounder (Platichthys flesus) were analysed. Two methods were used in the analysis of PAH metabolites; high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and fixed wavelength fluorescence (FF). The major PAH metabolite which could be measured using the HPLC method was 1-OH pyrene. It was possible to detect 1-OH Phe and 3-OH B[a]P in 70 and 24 samples respectively, of the 87 samples analysed. However, the concentrations of 1-OH Phe and 3-OH B[a]P were below or near to the LOQ (0.002 μg ml−1 bile). The bile of flounder samples from the Gulf of Gdańsk had 1-OH Pyr concentrations which ranged from 0.019 to 0.066 μg ml−1 bile. The high linear correlation observed between the quantity of 1-OH pyrene determined by the HPLC-F method and the content of the sum of pyrene-type PAHs obtained by the FF method indicated the FF method of determination of pyrene-type PAH metabolites can be used as a screening method. The content of ∑15PAHs in sediments collected in the Gulf of Gdansk, in 2008, ranged from 29.3 to 103 μg kg−1 dw. In mussel tissue ∑15PAHs concentrations were between 173.2 μg kg−1 dw and 237.7 μg kg−1 dw. All concentrations measured in the current study, in mussel tissue, were below the OSPAR toxicity threshold values.

Graphical abstract: Assessment of PAH pollution in the southern Baltic Sea through the analysis of sediment, mussels and fish bile

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
23 May 2011
Accepted
09 Jun 2011
First published
21 Jul 2011

J. Environ. Monit., 2011,13, 2535-2542

Assessment of PAH pollution in the southern Baltic Sea through the analysis of sediment, mussels and fish bile

W. M. Ruczyńska, J. Szlinder-Richert, M. Malesa-Ciećwierz and J. Warzocha, J. Environ. Monit., 2011, 13, 2535 DOI: 10.1039/C1EM10423C

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Spotlight

Advertisements