Elasmobranch ecotoxicological investigations are complicated because accessing organs that accumulate organic contaminants is usually lethal. Several metrics among liver, muscle, and brain were evaluated to determine their relative organic contaminant loads and the efficacy of using muscle as a non-lethal proxy for liver. Liver contained the highest concentrations (368–4020 ng/g wet weigth [ww]) and greatest estimated total load of contaminants. Brain had higher toxin concentrations than muscle (4.18–84.2 ng/g ww versus 0.94–4.73 ng/g ww). Liver and brain were similar to each other in terms of contaminant detection occurrence and signature overlap, whereas muscle poorly reflected those of liver and brain. However, the identity of contaminants detected in muscle constituted those that substantially contributed to summed liver and brain concentrations. Thus, studies utilizing muscle as a non-lethal liver alternative to study organic contaminant exposure in elasmobranchs should craft questions with care, considering its limited ability to serve as an accurate proxy.

分支弹道生态毒理学研究很复杂，因为进入积聚有机污染物的器官通常是致命的。对肝脏，肌肉和大脑中的几个指标进行了评估，以确定它们的相对有机污染物负荷以及使用肌肉作为肝脏的非致命替代物的功效。肝脏中的最高浓度（368–4020 ng / g湿重[ww]）和估计的最大污染物总负荷。脑中的毒素浓度高于肌肉（4.18–84.2 ng / g ww与0.94–4.73 ng / g ww）。在污染物检测的发生和特征重叠方面，肝和脑彼此相似，而肌肉不能很好地反映肝和脑。然而，肌肉中检测到的污染物的身份构成了对肝脏和大脑总和浓度有实质性贡献的污染物。因此，考虑到肌肉作为精确替代物的能力有限，利用肌肉作为非致命性肝替代物来研究弹性分支中有机污染物暴露的研究应谨慎提出问题。