Feasibility and accuracy of In Vivo and Ex Vivo XRF bone lead assessment wild birds: An example with black vultures, Coragyps atratus

IF 3.6 3区医学 Q2 BIOCHEMISTRY & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology Pub Date : 2025-08-22 DOI:10.1016/j.jtemb.2025.127730

Thomas Grier , Stephanie Silva Costa , Bethany Faber , Sunny Cooper , Kristin Dean , Michael Martin , Brian P. Jackson , Todd E. Katzner , Aaron J. Specht

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background

Lead (Pb) contamination in wildlife remains a critical environmental concern, particularly for scavenger species, which are at high risk due to ingestion of lead-contaminated carrion. Portable XRF (pXRF) systems can be useful to evaluate lead concentration of wild animals in vivo. However, the accuracy of these systems has never been validated for living birds.

Methods

We evaluated differences in the quantification of lead in the tarsometatarsus (TMT) and femur bones of 19 wild-caught black vultures (Coragyps atratus) by portable (pXRF) and benchtop X-ray fluorescence (XRF) systems with validation against inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS).

Results

We found a strong correlation between benchtop XRF and ICP-MS (R² = 0.92–0.95), and lower correlation between pXRF and ICP-MS (R² = 0.62–0.67), primarily because pXRF systematically underestimated lead concentrations. When compared to ICP-MS, Intraclass Correlation Coefficients (ICC) further confirmed better performance of benchtop XRF in measuring femur and TMT lead (ICC = 0.959–0.968) compared to pXRF (ICC = 0.739–0.742). pXRF in vivo TMT lead concentrations were highly correlated (R² = 0.85) to ex vivo results with the same instrument, with the soft tissue on the living animal having minimal effect on the measurement.

Discussion

Although pXRF offers critical advantages in field applications, its limitations necessitate careful interpretation of results. Future research could improve pXRF optimization and extend this approach to other wildlife populations. This work contributes valuable data on lead exposure in vultures and illustrates a mechanism by which lead exposure of birds can be evaluated in vivo in wild or captive populations.

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在体和离体XRF评估野生鸟类骨铅的可行性和准确性：以黑秃鹫为例

野生动物中的铅污染仍然是一个严重的环境问题，特别是对食腐动物来说，由于摄入铅污染的腐肉，它们处于高风险之中。便携式XRF （pXRF）系统可用于野生动物体内铅浓度的评估。然而，这些系统的准确性从未在活禽身上得到验证。方法采用便携式（pXRF）和台式x射线荧光（XRF）系统对19只野生黑秃鹫（Coragyps atratus）跗跖骨（TMT）和股骨中铅的定量进行了比较，并对电感耦合等离子体质谱（ICP-MS）进行了验证。结果台式XRF与ICP-MS的相关性较强（R²= 0.92 ~ 0.95），pXRF与ICP-MS的相关性较低（R²= 0.62 ~ 0.67），这主要是由于pXRF系统地低估了铅浓度。与ICP-MS相比，类内相关系数（Intraclass Correlation Coefficients， ICC）进一步证实台式XRF测量股骨和TMT铅（ICC = 0.959-0.968）优于pXRF （ICC = 0.739-0.742）。pXRF体内TMT铅浓度与同一仪器的离体结果高度相关（R²= 0.85），活体动物上的软组织对测量的影响最小。尽管pXRF在现场应用中具有关键优势，但其局限性需要仔细解释结果。未来的研究可以改进pXRF优化，并将这种方法扩展到其他野生动物种群。这项工作为秃鹫的铅暴露提供了有价值的数据，并阐明了一种机制，通过这种机制可以在野生或圈养种群中评估鸟类的铅暴露。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology 医学-内分泌学与代谢

CiteScore

6.60

自引率

2.90%

发文量

202

审稿时长

85 days

期刊介绍： The journal provides the reader with a thorough description of theoretical and applied aspects of trace elements in medicine and biology and is devoted to the advancement of scientific knowledge about trace elements and trace element species. Trace elements play essential roles in the maintenance of physiological processes. During the last decades there has been a great deal of scientific investigation about the function and binding of trace elements. The Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology focuses on the description and dissemination of scientific results concerning the role of trace elements with respect to their mode of action in health and disease and nutritional importance. Progress in the knowledge of the biological role of trace elements depends, however, on advances in trace elements chemistry. Thus the Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology will include only those papers that base their results on proven analytical methods. Also, we only publish those articles in which the quality assurance regarding the execution of experiments and achievement of results is guaranteed.