Hydroxylated and methylsulfonyl polychlorinated biphenyl metabolites in albatrosses from Midway Atoll, North Pacific Ocean

Concentrations of hydroxylated metabolites of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) (OH-PCBs) and methylsulfonyl metabolites of PCBs (MeSO₂-PCBs) were determined in plasma and liver of albatrosses collected from the Midway Atoll in the central North Pacific Ocean. The mean total concentrations of OH-PCBs in plasma of Laysan albatrosses (Diomedea immutabilis) and black-footed albatrosses (Diomedea nigripes) were 11.5 and 27.1 ng/g wet weight, respectively. Total concentrations of OH-PCBs were only one- to fivefold less than those of total PCBs. 4-hydroxy-2,2′,3,4′,5,5′,6-heptachlorinated biphenyl and 4-hydroxy-2,2′,3,4′,5,5′-hexachlorinated biphenyl were the predominant polychlorinated biphenylols, constituting 70 to 90% of the total OH-PCBs. Concentrations of MeSO₂-PCBs in liver were between 10.6 and 77 ng/g, lipid weight, approximately 250 times less than those of total PCBs. The MeSO₂-PCBs congeners retained in the liver were dominated by those having the methylsulfonyl group in the 3-position.