Investigation into the fate of carbon-14 labeled xenobiotics (naphthalene, phenanthrene, 2,4,5,2',4',5'-hexachlorobiphenyl, octachlorostyrene) in Bermudian corals
Solbakken, JE; Knap, AH; Sleeter, TD; Searle, CE; Palmork, KH
HEEP COPYRIGHT: BIOL ABS. Uptake and elimination of 4 labeled lipid-soluble xenobiotics (napthalene, phenanthrene, 2,4,5,2',4',5'-hexachlorobiphenyl (PCB), octachlorostyrene) were studied in 19 anthozoans (Plexaura flexuosa, Palythoa mamillosa, Stephanocoenia michelini, Madracis decactis, M. mirabilis, Agaricia fragilis, Siderastrea sp., Porites asteroides, P. porites, Favia fragum, Diploria labyrinthiformis, D. strigosa, Monastrea annularis, M. cavernosa, Oculina sp., Meandrina meandrites, Dichocoenia stokesii, Scolymia lacera, Isophyllia sinuosa) and 1 hydrozoan (Mellipora alcicornis) common to Bermudian waters. The concentration of radioactivity in the tissues was determined using liquid scintillation counting. All organisms took up radioactivity from the water. However, elimination rates were slow compared to those of other marine organisms. Naphthalene was the most rapidly eliminated compound of the 4 tested. There was a higher concentration of phenanthrene in the tissues than octachlorostyrene throughout the entire experiment. Tissue samples from D. strigosa taken 9 mo. after exposure to PCB contained 84% of the original radioactivity. No general trend or correlation between species and amount of radioactivity taken up was observed.
