Sublethal and Lethal Methods to Detect Recent Imidacloprid Exposure in Birds with Application to Field Studies

Charlotte L. Roy, Mark D. Jankowski, Julia Ponder, Da Chen

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

18 Scopus citations

Abstract

We used domestic chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus) as a model for granivorous birds to identify methods to detect recent imidacloprid exposure in wild birds. We conducted dosing experiments of 1, 5, 10, and 20% of a reported median lethal dose for domestic chickens using repeated daily exposures over 7 d, at dosages equating to 1.04, 5.2, 10.4, and 20.8 mg/kg/d. We examined the parent compound and metabolites in serial collections of feces and blood during exposures and for 15 d after exposures. We also collected liver, kidney, brain, muscle, and spleen at the experiment end. Mean concentrations of parent compound at 15 d postexposure were highest in the feces and brain, followed by the liver, muscle, spleen, and kidney; but mean concentrations of metabolites 5-OH-imidacloprid and imidacloprid-olefin were highest in feces; then liver, spleen, muscle, and kidney; and then brain. Imidacloprid was rapidly cleared from blood, with only one individual in any dose group having detectable concentrations after 48 h. In contrast, fecal pellets had the highest frequency of imidacloprid detection after 15 d. Concentrations of metabolites were higher than those of the parent compound at all sampling times examined but provided no information about time since exposure. Feces may provide a reliable nonlethal method for detection of recent imidacloprid exposure in wild birds. Additional work is needed to disentangle exposure dose concentration and time since exposure in field-collected samples. Environ Toxicol Chem 2020;39:1355–1366.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1355-1366
Number of pages12
JournalEnvironmental Toxicology and Chemistry
Volume39
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 1 2020

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The present study was funded by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Fish and Game Fund (experiment 1) and the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund (experiment 2). E. Dominguez and D. Franzen‐Klein managed captive dosing experiments at the University of Minnesota. H. Tan and C. Xia assisted with laboratory analysis of imidacloprid residues and metabolites at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. Current address of D. Chen is School of Environment and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Health, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China.

Funding Information:
The present study was funded by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Fish and Game Fund (experiment 1) and the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund (experiment 2). E. Dominguez and D. Franzen-Klein managed captive dosing experiments at the University of Minnesota. H. Tan and C. Xia assisted with laboratory analysis of imidacloprid residues and metabolites at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. Current address of D. Chen is School of Environment and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Health, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 SETAC

Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

Keywords

  • Feces
  • Imidacloprid
  • Metabolite
  • Neonicotinoid
  • Parent compound
  • Tissue
  • Insecticides/metabolism
  • Metabolome
  • Nitro Compounds/analysis
  • Chickens/metabolism
  • Lethal Dose 50
  • Animals
  • Environmental Exposure/analysis
  • Feces/chemistry
  • Neonicotinoids/analysis

PubMed: MeSH publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Journal Article

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