Environ. Sci. Techno/. 1995, 29, 2541-2547
Contamination of Pike and Sediment from the Kymijoki River by PCDEs, PCDDs, and PCDFs: Contents and Patterns Compared to Pike and Sediment from-the Bothnian Bay and Seals from Lake Saimaa JAANA KOISTINEN,* JAAKKO PAASIVIRTA, AND MIRJA SUONPERA Department of Chemism, University of Jyviiskyla, P.O. Box 35, FIN-40351 Jyviiskyla, Finland
HE I K KI HYVAR I N EN Department of Biology, University of Joensuu, P.O. Box 11 1, FIN-80101 Joensuu, Finland
Sediment and pike from Kymijoki River and Bothnian Bay were analyzed for contents of polychlorinated diphenyl ethers (PCDE), 2,3,7,8-substituted polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDD) and dibenzofurans (PCDF), and non-ortho-substituted polychlorinated biphenyls (coplanar PCBs). Both sites are located in the vicinity of pulp mills. The same compounds were measured in a chlorophenol formulation Ky-5, which used to be used as a wood preservative, and in four ringed seals from Lake Saimaa and in one seal from Lake Baikal. Results of this preliminary study indicated that spills from the manufacture of Ky-5 in the past have contaminated Kymijoki River sediments with PCDEs, PCDDs, and PCDFs. The same PCDE congeners that dominated in these sediments were abundant in Ky-5, pikes from Kymijoki River, and seals from Lake Saimaa. The TEQs of PCDD/PCDFs in the Kymijoki River sediments varied from 0.04 to 59 ng/g dry weight. The contents of PCDE, PCDD, and PCDF compounds were low in sediments and pikes from the Bothnian Bay.
Introduction Polychlorinated diphenyl ethers (PCDE) co-occur with polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDD) and dibenzofurans (PCDF) as impurities in chlorophenol preparations (1). PCDEs can also originate from combustion processes (2). PCDEs are structurally related to PCDDs and PCDFs, some of which are serious environmental pollutants due to their persistency and toxicity. Toxicological data for PCDEs are limited at present, but some PCDEs have been reported to elicit toxic responses similar to those of PCDDs
0013-936x/95/0929-2541$09.00/0
0 1995 American Chemical Society
and PCDFs (3). Toxic responses of these compounds correlate with their potency to induce microsomal mixedfunction oxidases, and their potencies as enzyme inducers and immunotoxicity depend on the structure. Coplanar PCB congeners are more potent inducers of hepatic microsomal aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase (A")and ethoxyresorufin 0-deethylase (EROD)activities in mice than mono-ortho-substituted PCBs while the corresponding potencies of mono-ortho-substituted PCDEs have been reported to be higher than those of coplanar congeners (4). Safe has proposed the same toxic equivalence factor REF) for mono- and non-ortho-substituted PCDEs as for monoortho-substituted PCBs (5). The first reports on the presence of PCDEs in the Finnish environment are from the 1980s when PCDEs were identified in Baltic white-tailed sea eagles and salmon (2). Since then, PCDE congenershave been analyzed in Baltic salmon (6, 7). In analytical measurements, PCDEs interfere with PCDFs and cause problems when highly contaminated samples like white-tailed eagles (6) are analyzed without proper cleanup. Synthesis of model substances for PCDEs has continued in our university (81, and presently over 50 different congeners are available as analytical standards. During 1992-1993, pike from Kymijoki River and salmon from Baltic Sea, Lake Saimaa, and Tenojoki River were analyzed for 26 congeners of PCDEs (9,10). Recently, the occurrence of 50 congeners of PCDEs was examined in Baltic salmon,birds, seals,and sediment (11-14). Contents of individual congeners were ~ 0 . ng/g 4 dry weight in Baltic sediments and varied from
