Environmental toxicants impair liver and kidney function and sperm quality of captive pandas.

Captive pandas are exposed to higher concentrations of environmental toxins in their food source and from atmospheric pollution than wild pandas. Moreover, the Qinling panda subspecies had significantly higher concentrations of toxic chemicals in its feces. To determine whether these toxicants also accumulate in panda's blood and impair its health, concentrations of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and heavy metals were measured in blood samples. Four heavy metals (As, Cd, Cr and Pb), PCDD/Fs and PCBs were detected in blood drawn from captive Qinling pandas. Time spent in captivity was a better predictor of toxicant concentration accumulation than was panda age. More than 50% of the studied pandas were outside the normal levels for 11 health parameters, and five (ALT, LDH, Ca, Cl, TB) of the 11 parameters classified as abnormal were correlated with blood pollutant concentrations. The proportion of live sperm was significantly lower and the aberrance ratio of sperm was significantly greater for captive pandas than for wild ones. A short-term solution to reduce the health impacts of pollution and toxicant exposure of Qinling pandas is to relocate breeding centers to less contaminated areas and to strictly control the quality of their food provided. A longer term solution depends on improving air quality by reducing toxic emissions.

• Publication year

  2018

• Venue

  Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety

• Publication date

  2018-10-01

• Fields of study

  Biology, Medicine, Environmental Science

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2018.07.008PMID 29990734
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• Atmospheric deposition exposes Qinling pandas to toxic pollutants.

  2017cited by this paper
• Captive pandas are at risk from environmental toxins

  2016cited by this paper
• Occurrence, bioaccumulation and risk assessment of dioxin-like PCBs along the Chenab river, Pakistan.

  2015cited by this paper
• An assessment of health risks associated with arsenic exposure via consumption of homegrown vegetables near contaminated glassworks sites.

  2015cited by this paper
• Levels and predictors of persistent organic pollutants in an adult population from four Spanish regions.

  2015cited by this paper
• Hydroxylated polychlorinated biphenyls decrease circulating steroids in female polar bears (Ursus maritimus).

  2015cited by this paper
• PCDD/F and dioxin-like PCB bioaccumulation by Manila clam from polluted areas of Venice lagoon (Italy).

  2014cited by this paper
• Mechanisms of lead and manganese neurotoxicity.

  2013cited by this paper
• Organic pollutants poison the roof of the world

  2013cited by this paper
• Breeding performance of blue tits (Cyanistes cæruleus ultramarinus) in relation to lead pollution and nest failure rates in rural, intermediate, and urban sites in Algeria.

  2013cited by this paper
• Lactational transfer of mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls in polar bears.

  2012cited by this paper
• Lead exposure in large carnivores in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem

  2012cited by this paper
• Cadmium, chromium, lead, manganese and nickel concentrations in blood of women in non-polluted areas in Japan, as determined by inductively coupled plasma-sector field-mass spectrometry

  2011cited by this paper
• Distribution of PCDD/Fs, PCBs, PBDEs and organochlorine residues in children's blood from Zhejiang, China.

  2010cited by this paper
• Concentrations, profiles and gas-particle partitioning of PCDD/Fs, PCBs and PBDEs in the ambient air of an E-waste dismantling area, southeast China

  2008cited by this paper
• Tissue-specific congener composition of organohalogen and metabolite contaminants in East Greenland polar bears (Ursus maritimus).

  2008cited by this paper
• Global fate of POPs: current and future research directions.

  2007cited by this paper
• The 2005 World Health Organization reevaluation of human and Mammalian toxic equivalency factors for dioxins and dioxin-like compounds.

  2006cited by this paper
• Separation of polybrominated diphenyl ethers, polychlorinated biphenyls, polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzo-furans in environmental samples using silica gel and florisil fractionation chromatography

  2006cited by this paper
• Normal serum aminotransferase concentration and risk of mortality from liver diseases: prospective cohort study

  2004cited by this paper
• Placental lead and outcome of pregnancy.

  2003cited by this paper
• Association of blood arsenic levels with increased reactive oxidants and decreased antioxidant capacity in a human population of northeastern Taiwan.

  2001cited by this paper
• Hepatitis C virus carriers with persistently normal aminotransferase levels: healthy people or true patients?

  2000cited by this paper
• Sperm factors related to in vitro penetration of porcine oocytes.

  2000cited by this paper
• Heme oxygenase induction by UVA radiation. A response to oxidative stress in rat liver.

  1998cited by this paper
• Hematologic and serum biochemical values for healthy captive giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) at the Wolong reserve, Sichuan, China

  1995cited by this paper
• Bilirubin is an antioxidant of possible physiological importance.

  1987cited by this paper

• Lead Bullet Burden: Widespread Lead Exposure in Wild Carnivores and Unseen Consequences of Feeding Lead-Shot Meat to Captive Cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus).

  2025cites this paper
• Seasonal testicular morphometry of European brown bears in relation to pollutants.

  2025cites this paper
• Trace element contaminants and endocrine status of European brown bears assessed using blood as a matrix.

  2024cites this paper
• Association between per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and sex hormone levels in males based on human studies.

  2024cites this paper
• Factors influencing the distribution, risk, and transport of microplastics and heavy metals for wildlife and habitats in "island" landscapes: From source to sink.

  2024cites this paper
• A GLOBAL SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF LEAD (PB) EXPOSURE AND ITS HEALTH EFFECTS IN WILD MAMMALS

  2024cites this paper
• Air Quality Impacts on the Giant Panda Habitat in the Qinling Mountains: Chemical Characteristics and Sources of Elements in PM2.5

  2023cites this paper
• Removal of heavy-metal pollutants by white rot fungi: A mini review

  2022cites this paper
• Early life PCB138 exposure induces kidney injury secondary to hyperuricemia in male mice.

  2022cites this paper
• Evaluating Different Extraction Approaches for GC-MS Based Metabolomics Analysis of the Giant Pandas’ Fur

  2022cites this paper
• The Relationship between Typical Environmental Endocrine Disruptors and Kidney Disease

  2022cites this paper
• Metal(loid) exposure assessment and biomarker responses in captive and free-ranging European brown bear (Ursus arctos).

  2020cites this paper
• Variation in sperm morphology and performance in tree sparrow (Passer montanus) under long-term environmental heavy metal pollution.

  2020cites this paper
• Maternal exposure to ambient particulate matter and green spaces and fetal renal function.

  2020cites this paper
• Trace elements exposure of endangered crested ibis (Nipponia nippon) under in situ and ex situ conservations.

  2019cites this paper
• Characteristics of heavy metal concentrations and risk assessment for giant pandas and their habitat in the Qinling Mountains, China

  2019cites this paper
• The health concern of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in a notorious e-waste recycling site.

  2019cites this paper
• Cancer! Look at the blood

  2018cites this paper
• Establish a special conservation zone for the captive giant panda

  2018cites this paper