Sea turtles, dolphins and dugongs can be exposed to large mixtures of contaminants due to the proximity of foraging locations to anthropogenic inputs. Differences in accumulation and effect result in differences of chemical risk to these species. However, little is known about the effect of contaminants in marine wildlife. Cell-based, or in vitro, exposure experiments offer an ethical alternative to investigate the effect of contaminants in wildlife. Data from in vitro studies can then be placed in an environmental context, by using screening risk assessments, comparing effect data with accumulation data from the literature, to identify risk to populations of marine wildlife. Cytotoxicity of Cr⁶⁺, Cd²⁺, Hg²⁺, 4,4’-DDE, and PFNA were investigated in primary skin fibroblasts of green turtles, loggerhead turtles, hawksbill turtles, dugongs, Burrunan dolphins, and common bottlenose dolphins. The general order of toxicity for all species was Hg²⁺> Cr⁶⁺ > Cd²⁺> 4,4′-DDE > PFNA, and significant differences in cytotoxicity were found between species for Cr⁶⁺, Cd²⁺ and PFNA. For Cd²⁺, in particular, cells from turtle species were less sensitive than mammalian species, and dugong cells were by far the most sensitive. The results from the cytotoxicity assay were then used in combination with published data on tissue contaminant concentrations to calculate risk quotients for identifying populations of each species most at risk from these chemicals. Cr, Cd and Hg were identified as posing risk in all six species. Dugongs were particularly at risk from Cd accumulation and dolphin species were particularly at risk from Hg accumulation. These results demonstrate the importance of using species-specific effect and accumulation data for developing chemical risk assessments and can be used to inform managers of priority contaminants, species, or populations. Development of additional in vitro endpoints, and improving links between in vitro and in vivo effects, would further improve this approach to understanding chemical risk in marine megafauna.

由于觅食地点靠近人为输入，海龟、海豚和儒艮可能会接触到大量污染物混合物。积累和影响的差异导致对这些物种的化学风险不同。然而，关于污染物对海洋野生动物的影响知之甚少。基于细胞或体外的暴露实验为研究污染物对野生动物的影响提供了一种道德替代方法。然后可以将来自体外研究的数据置于环境背景中，通过使用筛选风险评估，将效应数据与文献中的积累数据进行比较，以确定对海洋野生动物种群的风险。Cr ⁶⁺ , Cd ²⁺ , Hg ^{2+ 的}细胞毒性在绿海龟、红海龟、玳瑁、儒艮、布鲁南海豚和普通宽吻海豚的初级皮肤成纤维细胞中研究了 、4,4'-DDE 和 PFNA。所有物种的一般毒性顺序为Hg ²⁺ > Cr ⁶⁺ > Cd ²⁺ > 4,4'-DDE > PFNA，并且发现Cr ⁶⁺、Cd ²⁺和PFNA在物种之间的细胞毒性存在显着差异。镉²⁺尤其是海龟的细胞不如哺乳动物的细胞敏感，而儒艮细胞是迄今为止最敏感的。然后将细胞毒性试验的结果与已公布的组织污染物浓度数据结合使用，以计算风险商数，以识别每个物种的种群风险最高的化学品。Cr、Cd 和 Hg 被确定为在所有六个物种中构成风险。儒艮特别容易受到 Cd 积累的影响，而海豚物种特别容易受到 Hg 积累的影响。这些结果证明了使用特定物种的影响和积累数据进行化学风险评估的重要性，并可用于通知管理者优先污染物、物种或种群。开发额外的体外终点，并改善体外和体内效应之间的联系，将进一步改进这种了解海洋巨型动物化学风险的方法。