Correlations between mercury concentration, and stable isotope ratios of carbon and nitrogen of amino acids in scalp hair from whale meat eaters and heavy fish eaters

Abstract

Rationale: As mercury (Hg) accumulation in marine animals generally increases with increased trophic level (δ¹⁵ N values) through the food web, predators accumulate higher levels of Hg. The main source of human Hg intake is the consumption of fish and other marine animals, and Hg concentration in scalp hair is the preferred marker for evaluating consumption of marine animals. Difference in δ¹⁵ N values between trophic and source amino acids of human consumers could enable us to estimate the trophic level of the consumer without knowing the bulk δ¹⁵ N value of their prey.

Methods: We measured the δ¹⁵ N values of 15 amino acids in scalp hair from heavy fish eaters and whale meat eaters using isotope ratio monitoring gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (irm-GC/MS), and investigated the correlations between Hg concentrations in the hair and the δ¹⁵ N values of the individual constituent amino acids.

Results: The δ¹⁵ N values for all trophic amino acids (Ala, Val, Leu, Ile, Pro, Asx and Glx) increased with increases in Hg concentration (p < 0.01), with the highest correlation being with Glx (R² = 0.725). In contrast, the δ¹⁵ N value for Thr decreased with increases in Hg concentration (R² = 0.663, p < 0.01). The difference in δ¹⁵ N values between Glx and Thr was positively correlated with Hg concentration, showing the highest correlation coefficient (R² = 0.773, p < 0.01) among the various combinations for amino acids.

Conclusions: The difference in δ¹⁵ N values between Glx and Thr appears to be the best proxy for the estimation of Hg concentration in scalp hair. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.