A ROLE FOR AIRBORNE-PARTICULATES IN HIGH MERCURY LEVELS OF SOME CETACEANS

In a study of 25 Tursiops truncatus and two Globicephala macrorhynchus examined by necropsy, abundant HgSe was found in both the liver and i n the respiratory system (lung and hilar lymph nodes). In the liver Hg Se was consistently associated with the cell-breakdown pigment lipofus cin, whereas in lung and hilar lymph nodes it was consistently associa ted with particulates consisting of partially graphitic soot and silic ates. This supports earlier suggestions that in the liver HgSe may be a storage end product of Hg metabolism, while adding the new suggestio n that in the respiratory system HgSe may be inhaled, preformed in com bustion emissions, (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.