Premium
Biological activity of aryl hydrocarbon receptor ligands in sediments from remote European lakes
Author(s) -
BORONAT SUSANNA,
GARCIAREYERO NATÀLIA,
FONTS ROGER,
FERNÁNDEZ PILAR,
GRIMALT JOAN O.,
PIÑA BENJAMIN
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
freshwater biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.297
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1365-2427
pISSN - 0046-5070
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2427.2009.02285.x
Subject(s) - aryl hydrocarbon receptor , environmental chemistry , sediment , ligand (biochemistry) , hexachlorobenzene , ecology , bioassay , chemistry , pollutant , biology , receptor , transcription factor , paleontology , biochemistry , gene
Summary 1. Sediment extracts from 63 European remote lakes were tested for the presence of ligands of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), using a yeast‐based bioassay. The lakes belong to different European mountain regions in Central Norway, Scotland, Piedmont (Italy), Tyrol (Austria and Italy) and the Julian Alps (Slovenia). 2. AhR ligand activity varied about 40‐fold among the examined lakes, with Scotland having the highest proportion of lakes with high AhR ligand activity, whereas samples with low AhR ligand activity predominate in the Julian Alps. 3. AhR ligand activity in sediment samples correlated with the concentration of several environmentally relevant compounds, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, hexachlorobenzene and several polychlorobiphenyl ether congeners. These correlations suggest an anthropogenic origin for the detected AhR ligands, rather than being generated from natural processes. 4. We conclude that pollutants deposited in remote lakes by atmospheric processes are active AhR ligands at the concentrations found in these lakes. Given the high toxicity associated with ectopic activation of AhR in different animal systems, this activity may represent a significant risk for the exposed fauna.