Heavy metal concentrations in the small intestine of red fox (Vulpes vulpes) with and without Echinococcus multilocularis infection
Language English Country Germany Media print-electronic
Document type Comparative Study, Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
- MeSH
- Echinococcus multilocularis metabolism MeSH
- Echinococcosis veterinary MeSH
- Foxes metabolism parasitology MeSH
- Statistics, Nonparametric MeSH
- Heavy Metal Poisoning MeSH
- Poisoning MeSH
- Spectrophotometry, Atomic MeSH
- Intestine, Small chemistry metabolism parasitology MeSH
- Metals, Heavy analysis metabolism MeSH
- Animals MeSH
- Check Tag
- Animals MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
- Comparative Study MeSH
- Geographicals
- Czech Republic MeSH
- Names of Substances
- Metals, Heavy MeSH
Heavy metal (Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn) levels in red fox small intestine samples with or without Echinococcus multilocularis infection were studied. The red foxes were taken from the open countryside of northwest Bohemia (CR). Red foxes with E. multilocularis infection had lower levels of toxic metals (Cd, Pb); cadmium levels in infected foxes (0.0052 mg/kg) were twice as low as in uninfected foxes (0.0106 mg/kg). This was the same case for lead: 0.0288 mg/kg infected red foxes (inf.) and 0.0413 mg/kg uninfected (uninf.). Conversely, red foxes with E. multilocularis infection yielded higher concentrations in comparison to their uninfected counterparts: Cr (0.0087 mg/kg uninf. and 0.0116 mg/kg inf.), Cu (0.2677 mg/kg uninf. and 0.3205 mg/kg inf.), Fe (6.46 mg/kg uninf. and 10.89 mg/kg inf.), Mn (0.1966 mg/kg uninf. and 0.2029 mg/kg inf.), Ni (0.0415 mg/kg uninf. and 0.064 mg/kg inf.) and Zn (16.71 mg/kg uninf. and 20.25 mg/kg inf). This could support the hypothesis that tapeworms are able to absorb toxic heavy metals from the host body into their tissues, as well as to modify other element concentrations in the host body.
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