Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and their hydroxylated metabolites in fish bile and sediments from coastal waters of Colombia.

Sediments and fish bile collected from the Atlantic coastal waters of Colombia were analyzed for 16 parent polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and 23 hydroxylated PAHs (OH-PAHs), respectively. Sediments contained overall mean SigmaPAH concentrations of 2090, 234 and 170 ng/g, dry wt, for Cartagena Bay, Caimanera Marsh, and Totumo Marsh, respectively. The mean concentration of the summed OH-PAHs in fish bile was 1250, 180 and 64.1 ng/g bile wt for Cartagena Bay, Caimanera Marsh, and Totumo Marsh, respectively. The results suggest that Cartagena Bay is heavily polluted by PAHs, and that exposure to high concentrations of PAHs together with other factors could contribute to the decreased health of fish living in this ecosystem. This is one of the first studies to describe the analysis of 23 individual OH-PAHs in fish bile, using authentic standards.

Perfluorooctanesulfonate and related fluorochemicals in biological samples from the north coast of Colombia.

Perfluorinated compounds are widespread pollutants of toxicological importance that have been detected in environmental matrices. However, little is known on their distribution in South America. In this study, distribution of perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorohexanesulfonate (PFHxS), and perfluorooctanesulfonamide (PFOSA) was determined in the bile of mullet, Mugil incilis, and in tissues of pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis) collected from North Colombia. Analysis was performed by HPLC mass spectrometry after ion-pair extraction. PFOS was found in all bile samples and PFOA and PFHxS were detected at lower frequency. Average concentrations of PFOS, PFOA, and PFHxS in bile of fish from Cartagena Bay, an industrialized site, and Totumo marsh, a reference site, were 3673, 370, 489 and 713, 47.4, 1.27 ng/mL, respectively. PFOS concentrations in pelican organs decreased in the order of spleen>liver>lung>kidney>brain>heart>muscle. These results suggest, for the first time, that perfluorinated compounds are also found in wildlife from Latin American countries.