Occurrence of 3-nitrobenzanthrone and other powerful mutagenic polycyclic aromatic compounds in living organisms: polychaetes

In this work we report the occurrence of powerful mutagenic 3-nitrobenzanthrone (3-NBA), in addition to 18 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), 6 oxygenated PAHs and 27 nitrated PAHs in polychaete worms. Benzanthrone (BA), another important mutagenic polycyclic aromatic compound (PAC) also was detected in the samples. Polychaete annelids have great ecological relevance, being widely distributed in different environmental conditions, from intertidal zones up to seven thousand feet deep areas. They are abundantly found in both contaminated and uncontaminated areas and, therefore, used as indicators of the pollution status of a given area. As we know, so far, most of these PACs has not been previously reported in living organisms before. The 3-NBA concentrations determined in this study were within 0.11–5.18 µg g(−1). Other relevant PACs such as PAHs, quinones and nitro-PAHs were found in maximum concentrations at 0.013 µg g(−1) (coronene) to 11.1 µg g(−1) (benzo[k]fluoranthene), 0.823 µg g(−1) (9,10-phenenthrenequinone) to 12.1 µg g(−1) (1,4-benzoquinone) and 0.434 (1-nitronaphthalene) µg g(−1) to 19.2 µg g(−1) (6-nitrobenzo[a]pyrene), respectively. Principal component analysis (PCA), ternary correlations and diagnostic ratios were employed in order to propose probable sources for PACs. Although statistical analysis preliminarily has indicated both pyrogenic and petrogenic contributions, petrogenic sources were predominant reflecting the impacts of petroleum exploration and intensive traffic of boats in the study area.