The assessment of Omega-3 fish oil pollution with mercury derived from shark and tuna fish in post-market surveillance in Tehran by cyclic voltammetry

Subject Areas : Journal of Comparative Pathobiology

بهروز اکبری آدرگانی ¹ , لطیفه نویدپور ² , مریم شکرچی ³

1 - ندارد
2 - ندارد
3 - ندارد

Received: 2012-09-26 Accepted : 2013-01-01 Published : 2013-02-19

Keywords: Fish Oil, Omega-3, Mercury, Microwave Digestion, Stripping Cyclic Voltammetry,

Abstract :

Fish oil is one of the best sources of fatty acids dietary supply. Recently, use of fish oil isenhanced based on its useful effects on human health. Unfortunately, due to industrial pollution,many fish and fish oils have high levels of mercury. Mercury is one of the most poisonousmicroelement for the ecosystem. mercury is toxic and can damage the brain and the nervoussystem. The main object of this research was the assessment of Omega-3 fish oil pollution withmercury derived from shark and tuna fish in post-market surveillance in Tehran by cyclicvoltammetry. For this pupose fourteen fish oil brands was collected from market retail andtransferred to the laboratory. In this research, closed vessel microwave extraction and cyclicvoltammetric method was employed. The digestion process was perfomed via four steps in aconstant 50 bar pressure and a gradiant temperature from 145 to 200 ˚C. The mercury content offish oils was in the range of 11.03–107.11 ng/ml. Validation of parameters reveal that theprecision of developed method was 2.3 percent in mean standard deviation. In conclusion, fishsuch as swordfish and shark and tuna fish are also a source of exposure to the heavy metaltoxin, mercury. So the potential toxicity of omega 3 fish oil capsules with mercury must beconsidered and it is necessary to measure the mercury content of these capsules with a simple,precise, accurate and economic method.