EFFECT OF ANIMAL PROCESSING

Biotransformation and fate of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in marine invertebrates and sediment have been studied. Invertebrates can accumulate and metabolize sediment-associated PAHs to polar and aqueous PAH-derived compounds. The objectives of this study are to identify metabolites of PAHs in species of deposit-feeding polychaetes and to examine biogeochemical fate and microbial degradation of the identified metabolites. Two metabolites, 1-hydroxypyrene and 1-hydroxypyrene glucuronide, were identified as the primary phase I and phase II metabolites of the tetra-cyclic PAH pyrene in Nereis diversicolor. Identification was performed using high pressure liquid chromatography with diode array and fluorescence detection (HPLC/DAD/F) and an ion-trap mass spectrometer for positive identification of 1-hydroxypyrene glucuronide. A fast synchronous fluorescence spectrometry (SFS) method was developed for detection of pyrene metabolites in polychaete tissue. A good correlation between 1-hydroxypyrene measured by SFS and HPLC/F was observed. 1-hydroxypyrene was identified as the single phase I metabolite in tissue of three additional polychaete species Nereis virens, Arenicola marina, and Capitella sp.I.