Characteristics, sources and health risks of organotin compounds in marine organisms from the seas adjacent to the eastern ports of China

Overview

Shu et al. measured six organotin compounds in edible marine organisms from seas adjacent to eastern China ports: tributyltin (TBT), dibutyltin (DBT), monobutyltin (MBT), triphenyltin (TPhT), diphenyltin (DPhT), and monophenyltin (MPhT). The analytes are tin-organic species reported as ng Sn g-1 on dry-weight or wet-weight bases; they are not total tin and not inorganic tin. The local PDF includes main-text summary ranges but not the supplemental tables that hold species-level concentration records.

Key numbers

The abstract and Results section report total organotin sums (sum OTCs) in marine organisms from the eastern ports of China:

The Results section reports seafood-group ranges and means in ng Sn g-1 dw:

The source states that mollusks accumulated more OTCs than fish (p<0.05), while crustaceans and fish did not differ significantly (p>0.05). Within the three groups, Thais clavigera, Portunus tribuberculatus, and Pseudosciaena crocea showed higher OTC concentrations for mollusks, crustaceans, and fish, respectively; the extracted main text does not include their species-level numeric values.

For butyltins on a wet-weight basis, the source compares its current seafood data with older reports and states that BTs in the present study were ND-38.64 ng Sn g-1 ww, with mean 3.69 ng Sn g-1 ww.

The health-risk section reports risk quotients (RQ) from seafood consumption:

For Southeast Coast seafood, TPhT was the leading contributor to the risk rating (72.4%), followed by TBT (12.2%), DPhT (7.9%), and MBT (7.2%). The corresponding contributions to total OTC residues were TPhT 44%, TBT 4.3%, DPhT 33%, and MBT 15%.

Methods (brief)

Samples were collected from nine port areas along the eastern China coast between July 2020 and May 2021. Mollusks were obtained from tidal sediments, while fish and crustaceans were purchased from local seafood markets; muscle tissues were dissected, homogenized, freeze-dried, ground, and stored at -20°C. Approximately 1 g freeze-dried sample was extracted overnight with 10 mL acetic-acid/methanol (1:9, v/v) containing 0.03% (w/w) tropolone, sonicated, cleaned with PSA, derivatized with sodium tetraethylborate, and analyzed by GC-MS/MS (Agilent 8890-7000D) on an HP-5-MS column. OTCs were calculated against internal standard TPrT; all samples were analyzed in triplicate, with blanks and standards every 15 samples.

Implications

This source is direct seafood occurrence evidence for organotin compounds in mollusks, crustaceans, and fish from eastern China port regions. It is especially useful because the dominant residues were phenyltins rather than historical butyltins, and because the risk section identifies Southeast Coast seafood as the higher-risk subset. Downstream extraction should keep TBT, DBT, MBT, TPhT, DPhT, MPhT, total butyltins, total phenyltins, and total organotins distinct; these values should route to organotin context and not be pooled with total tin (Sn) or inorganic tin values.

Related evidence

• Fish — marine, predatory (tuna, swordfish, shark, king mackerel)
• Fish — marine, non-predatory (sardines, anchovies, salmon, cod)
• Shellfish (shrimp, crab, lobster, clams, oysters, mussels)
• Seafood
• Fish
• Shellfish
• Molluscs
• Tin
• Organotins

Update history

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