Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0155339 (Brown)
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A survey of mercury (Hg) and selenium (Se) contents was performed in fish collected from lakes located in two National Parks of the northern patagonian Andean range. Two native species, catfish (Diplomystes viedmensis) and creole perch (Percichthys trucha), and three introduced species, brown trout (Salmo trutta), rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), and brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis), were caught from lakes Nahuel Huapi, Moreno, Traful, Espejo Chico, and Guillelmo belonging to Nahuel Huapi National Park and from lakes Futalaufquen and Rivadavia, Los Alerces National Park. In lake Moreno, fish diet items were analyzed and rainbow trout grown in a farm. Hg and Se were measured in muscle and liver tissues by instrumental neutron activation analysis. The average concentrations in muscle of Hg for all species, ages, and lakes are between 0.4 to 1.0 microg g(-1) dry weight (DW) with a few fish, mainly native, exceeding the United States Environmental Protection Agency health advisory for freshwater fish limited consumption, and from 0.8 to 1.5 microg g(-1) DW for Se. Average concentrations in liver of Hg in all species range from 0.4 to 0.9 microg g(-1) DW. Brown trout, the top predator in these lakes, showed the lowest average Hg burden in both tissues. Se concentrations in the liver of brown and rainbow trout, up to 279 microg g(-1) DW, are higher than those expected for nearly pristine lakes, exceeding 20 microg g(-1) DW, the threshold concentration associated with Se toxicity. These species show lower Hg contents in muscle, suggesting a possible detoxification of Hg by a Se-rich diet. Creole perch and velvet catfish livers have lower Se concentrations, with a narrower span of values (2.3 to 8.5 microg g(-1) and 3.3 to 5.5 microg g(-1) DW respectively).
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PMID:Selenium and mercury in native and introduced fish species of patagonian lakes, Argentina. 1821 90

Increasingly, population- and ecosystem-level health assessments are performed using sophisticated molecular tools. Advances in molecular technology enable the identification of synergistic effects of multiple stressors on the individual physiology of different species. Brown bears (Ursus arctos) are an apex predator; thus, they are ideal candidates for detecting potentially ecosystem-level systemic perturbations using molecular-based tools. We used gene transcription to analyze 130 brown bear samples from three National Parks and Preserves in Alaska. Although the populations we studied are apparently stable in abundance and exist within protected and intact environments, differences in transcript profiles were noted. The most prevalent differences were among locations. The transcript patterns among groups reflect the influence of environmental factors, such as nutritional status, disease, and xenobiotic exposure. However, these profiles also likely represent baselines for each unique environment by which future measures can be made to identify early indication of population-level changes due to, for example, increasing Arctic temperatures. Some of those environmental changes are predicted to be potentially positive for brown bears, but other effects such as the manifestation of disease or indirect effects of oceanic acidification may produce negative impacts.
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PMID:Using Gene Transcription to Assess Ecological and Anthropological Stressors in Brown Bears. 2916 50