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Permeability of hair to cadmium, copper and lead in five species of terrestrial mammals and implications in biomonitoring

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The capacity of mammal hair to absorb toxic metals and its utility in biomonitoring has been broadly studied. Though these metal-binding properties has generally been attributed to the sulphur contained in cysteine, an amino acid that forms part of keratin, there are not many experimental studies that analyze the role of sulphur in the external deposition of potentially toxic metallic elements in order to better understand the potential of hair in biomonitoring and generate better tools for differentiating between internal and external deposition of contaminants. In this study, an experimental analysis is carried out using a scanning electron microscope on hairs of five terrestrial mammal species (Peromyscus furvus, P. maniculatus, Glossophaga soricina, Artibeus jamaicensis and Marmosa mexicana) treated with cadmium, copper and lead salts. We quantified absorbed metals as well as natural elements of the hair by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) to analyze using simple statistics the role of sulphur in the absorption Cd, Cu and Pb. Given the lack of studies comparing the mechanisms of deposition of metal elements among different orders of Class Mammalia, external morphology was considered to be an important factor in the deposition of metallic particles of Cd, Cu and Pb. Bat species (Glossophaga soricina, Artibeus jamaicensis) showed a high concentration of particles in their scales, however, no between-species differences in metal absorption were observed, and during the exogenous deposition metal particles do not permeate the medulla. These results suggest that the sulphur in hair itself cannot bind metals to hair cuticle and that hair absorption capacity depends on a variety of factors such as aspects of hair morphology.

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Acknowledgements

We specially thank to the Instituto de Física, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México for facilitating the laboratory used in the experiments. Thanks to the MZFC-M for providing the samples. This paper constitutes part of the doctoral research of A.N.R.L., who thanks the graduate programme Doctorado en Ciencias Biológicas, UNAM and acknowledges the scholarships provided by CONACyT and UNAM. Founding for this study was provided by the project CONACyT 239482 and PAPIIT IN-216713. We are also grateful with Itzel Reyes-Chaparro and José Armando Reséndiz-Arroyo for their help during the experiments and analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Museo de Zoología “Alfonso L. Herrera”, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito Exterior s/n, Ciudad Universitaria, A. P. 70-399, D. F, 04510, Coyoacán, Mexico

    A. N. Rendón-Lugo & L. León-Paniagua

  2. Instituto de Física, UNAM, Mexico City, Mexico

    P. Santiago

  3. Facultad de Química, UNAM, Mexico City, Mexico

    I. Puente-Lee

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  1. A. N. Rendón-Lugo
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  2. P. Santiago
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  3. I. Puente-Lee
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  4. L. León-Paniagua
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Correspondence to L. León-Paniagua.

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Rendón-Lugo, A.N., Santiago, P., Puente-Lee, I. et al. Permeability of hair to cadmium, copper and lead in five species of terrestrial mammals and implications in biomonitoring. Environ Monit Assess 189, 640 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-017-6338-z

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