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Pets as Sentinels of Human Exposure to Neurotoxic Metals

  • M. Ramiro PastorinhoEmail author
  • Ana Catarina A. Sousa
Chapter
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Abstract

The idea that animals may be used as sentinels of environmental hazards pending over humans and the associated public health implications is not a new one. Nowadays pets are being used as bioindicators for the effects of environmental contaminants in human populations. This is of paramount importance due to the large increase in the worldwide distribution of synthetic chemicals, particularly in the built environment. Companion animals share the habitat with humans being simultaneously exposed to and suffering the same disease spectrum as their masters. Moreover, their shorter latency periods (due to briefer lifespans) enable them to act as early warning systems, allowing timely public health interventions. The rise on ethical constraints on the use of animals and, consequently, on the sampling they can be subjected to has led to the preferential use of noninvasive matrices, and in this case we are looking into hair. This chapter focuses in three non-essential metals: mercury, lead, and cadmium, due to their ubiquitous presence in the built environment and their ability of affecting the mammal nervous system. There is a fairly short amount of studies reporting the concentrations of these metals in pets’ hair, particularly for cats. These studies are characterized, and the metal concentrations corresponding to different parameters (e.g., age, sex, diet, rearing) are described in order to provide the reader with a general vision on the use of this noninvasive matrix on the studies conducted since the last two decades of the twentieth century.

Keywords

Surrogacy Early warning Latency Cadmium Lead Mercury 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by funds from the Health Sciences Research Center (CICS-UBI) through National Funds by FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology (UID/Multi/00709/2019) – and developed under the scope of the project CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials, FCT Ref. UID/CTM/50011/2019. Additional funding was provided by project ICON “Interdisciplinary Challenges on Neurodegeneration” (Ref. CENTRO-01-0145-FEDER-000013, project funded by FEDER funds through POCI-COMPETE 2020) and La Mer Project funded by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT). Ana Catarina Sousa acknowledges the University of Aveiro, for funding in the scope of the framework contract foreseen in the numbers 4, 5, and 6 of the article 23 of the Decree-Law 57/2016 of August 29, changed by Law 57/2017, of July 19. We also thank Rita Teles for the picture of her dog Barney.

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Authors and Affiliations

  • M. Ramiro Pastorinho
    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    Email author
  • Ana Catarina A. Sousa
    • 4
  1. 1.Department of BiologyUniversity of ÉvoraÉvoraPortugal
  2. 2.NuESA-Health and Environment Study Unit, Faculty of Health SciencesUniversity of Beira InteriorCovilhãPortugal
  3. 3.Health Sciences Research Centre (CICS)University of Beira InteriorCovilhãPortugal
  4. 4.CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials, Department of ChemistryUniversity of AveiroAveiroPortugal

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