Analysis of lead pollution levels within an urban ecosystem using the cestode Hymenolepis diminuta and its rat hosts as bioindicators.

TRIPODI, MARIEL; TRIPODI, MARIEL; SUAREZ, OLGA; SUAREZ, OLGA; HANCKE, DIEGO; HANCKE, DIEGO

JOURNAL OF HELMINTHOLOGY

CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS

Lugar: Cambridge; Año: 2017 p. 1 - 5

0022-149X

The overall goal of this study was to use the Rattus spp./Hymenolepis diminuta model to assess environmental lead pollution in different landscape units of an urban ecosystem. Rats of the genus Rattus were collected from 3 shantytowns and 3 residential neighborhoods of the city of Buenos Aires. Concentrations of lead in the livers of wild rats and in their parasite H. diminuta were measured using an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The landscape unit and tissue type had a significant effect on lead concentration, being higher in residential neighborhoods as well as in H. diminuta tissue. Nevertheless, no significant differences were found for the mean lead concentration in liver between uninfected and infected rats. Since the available information describing the heavy metals pollution within the City of Buenos Aires is scarce, the results of this study allow us to update the data about the extent of biologically available lead contamination. Considering that rats and H. diminuta are distributed worldwide, this monitoring system for lead pollution might be successfully applied in other urban ecosystems.