Plasma levels of copper, zinc, selenium, glutathione and vitamin E were measured in nine wild ranging beluga whales captured in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, in August 1993. Levels of copper (mean ± standard deviation) were 20.3 ± 3.2 µmo1/L (n=7), and levels of zinc were 18.1 + 4.1 moµmo1/L (n=7). These data are in the range of those found in domestic animals. Levels of vitamin E were 84.2 ± 60.0 µmo1/L (n=7), which is up to 10-20 times higher than in other domestic species. The plasma levels of selenium, which have never been published for belugas, were 4.5 + 1.3,umol/L (n=9), which is 2-5 times higher than in domestic species. Plasma levels of glutathione were 6.9 + 1.7 µmo1/l (n=7). High plasma levels of vitamin E and selenium in beluga whales, as well as high plasma levels of vitamin E in harp seals (Englehardt and Geraci, 1978) and high urinary level of selenium in minke whales (Hasunuma et al., 1993), may suggest a greater need for antioxidants in the polluted marine environment.

References

1.  Englehardt FR, and JR Gereci. 1978. Effects of experimental vitamin E deprivation in the harp seal, Phoca groenlendica. Canadian Journal of Zoology 56: 2186.

2.  Hasunuma R. T Ogawa, Y Fujise, and Y Kawanishi. 1993. Analysis of selenium metabolites in urine samples of minke whale Balaenoptera acurostrata using ion exchange chromatography. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology C Comparative Pharmacology and Toxicology 104: 87-g9.