Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in Sea Turtles: Levels, Profiles and Health Impacts

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2022) | Viewed by 4752

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Biosciences and Veterinary Medicine, University of Camerino, Camerino, Italy
Interests: endocrine disruptors; biomonitoring; gene biomarkers; coastal waters; nuclear receptors

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Biosciences and Veterinary Medicine, University of Camerino, Camerino, Italy
Interests: metabolic disruptors; xenosensors; oestrogen mimics; molecular endocrinology; bioassays; biomarkers

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), and the newly recognized emerging persistent organic pollutants (POPs), such as perfluoroalkylated substances (PFASs), organic UV filters, and personal care products, are the most common classes of contaminants that can bioaccumulate and biomagnify throughout the marine food web. These compounds have a wide range of toxicity potentials, harming the biological health of a variety of marine organisms, including sea turtles. Alarming levels of POPs have recently been found in all species of sea turtles, demonstrating that these pollutants are a real threat to sea turtle conservation. Despite the growing body of evidence of the impact of POPs, especially the emerging ones, on marine ecosystem health, further environmental monitoring and ecotoxicological studies are required to integrate baseline data and address the long-term effects on various signaling pathways in sea turtles. This Special Issue welcomes original studies that will contribute to a better understanding of the POP bioaccumulation trends in sea turtle tissues and to develop new biomarkers to measure adverse health effects. This knowledge will be useful for improving sea turtle conservation strategies.

Dr. Paolo Cocci
Dr. Francesco Palermo
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • POPs
  • biomonitoring
  • sea turtles
  • endocrine disruptors
  • biomarkers

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 1535 KiB  
Article
Chlorinated Persistent Organic Pollutants (PCDD/Fs and PCBs) in Loggerhead Sea Turtles Stranded along the Central Adriatic Coast
by Ludovica Di Renzo, Roberta Ceci, Silvia D’Antonio, Gabriella Di Francesco, Federica Di Giacinto, Nicola Ferri, Carla Giansante, Manuela Leva, Giulia Mariani, Vincenzo Olivieri, Simone Pulsoni, Romolo Salini, Giampiero Scortichini, Giulio Tammaro and Gianfranco Diletti
Animals 2022, 12(22), 3177; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ani12223177 - 17 Nov 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1842
Abstract
Persistent organic pollutants are widespread in the marine environment. They can bioaccumulate and biomagnify in marine organisms through the food web with a potentially toxic effect on living organisms. The sea turtle Caretta caretta is a carnivorous animal with opportunistic feeding behavior. These [...] Read more.
Persistent organic pollutants are widespread in the marine environment. They can bioaccumulate and biomagnify in marine organisms through the food web with a potentially toxic effect on living organisms. The sea turtle Caretta caretta is a carnivorous animal with opportunistic feeding behavior. These turtles tend to bioaccumulate pollutants through food, and hence they can be considered an indicator of chemical pollutants in the marine ecosystem. In this study, 44 loggerhead sea turtles were considered, and liver and fat tissue were sampled from each of them to investigate the levels of dioxins (PCDD/Fs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in sea turtles and their potential correlation with sex and size in terms of curved carapace length (CCL). Results suggested that these contaminants were easily bioaccumulated, and PCBs were predominant compared to dioxins in both liver and fat tissue. The congener patterns were similar to those found in sea fish. Moreover, there were no differences in the contamination levels between females and males, nor was there a correlation with the size. There is a need to harmonize the methodological approaches to better evaluate the results and trends over time and to monitor the species and indirectly the health status of the marine environment. Full article
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10 pages, 936 KiB  
Article
Organic UV Filters Induce Toll-like-Receptors and Related Signaling Pathways in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells of Juvenile Loggerhead Sea Turtles (Caretta caretta)
by Paolo Cocci, Gilberto Mosconi and Francesco Alessandro Palermo
Animals 2022, 12(5), 594; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ani12050594 - 27 Feb 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1940
Abstract
Recent evidence suggests that exposure to organic ultraviolet filters (UV filters) is associated with dysregulated neuroendocrine-immune homeostasis. Marine species are likely to be among the most vulnerable to UV filters due to widespread diffusion of these chemicals in the aquatic environment. In the [...] Read more.
Recent evidence suggests that exposure to organic ultraviolet filters (UV filters) is associated with dysregulated neuroendocrine-immune homeostasis. Marine species are likely to be among the most vulnerable to UV filters due to widespread diffusion of these chemicals in the aquatic environment. In the present study, the effects of UV filter bioaccumulation on toll-like-receptors (TLRs) and related signaling pathways were investigated in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of juvenile loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta). We found that the expression of both TLR1 and TLR2 was significantly increased in UV-filter exposed turtles compared to control animals. Similarly, the signaling pathway downstream of activated TLRs (i.e., Ras-related C3 botulinum toxin substrate 1 (RAC1), Phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K), serine/threonine-protein kinase (AKT3), and nuclear factor κB (NF-κB)) was significantly up-regulated, leading to an enhanced transcription of pro-inflammatory cytokines. In addition, we demonstrated that high levels of plasma UV filters increased lipid peroxidation in sea turtles’ PBMCs. Our results indicated that UV filters affected the inflammatory responses of PBMCs via modulation of the TLR/NF-κB signaling pathway and provided a new insight into the link between exposure to sunscreen agents and sea turtle health. Full article
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