Accumulation of persistent organic pollutants in parasites

Organisms are simultaneously exposed to various stressors, including parasites and pollutants, that may interact with each other. Research on the accumulation of organic compounds in host-parasite systems is scant compared to studies on parasite-metal interactions and mainly focuses on intestinal endoparasites. We reviewed factors that determine the accumulation of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in host-parasite systems. The wet/dry weight-based concentration of POPs in these parasites is usually lower than that in host tissues because of lower lipid contents in the parasites. However, the fractionation of the pollutants into parasites and their hosts may vary, depending on developmental stages in the life cycle of the parasites. Developmental stages determine the trophic relationship and the taxon of the parasite in the host-parasite systems because of different feeding strategies between the stages. Lipid-corrected concentrations of organic chemicals in the host are usually higher than those in the endoparasites studied. This phenomenon is attributed to a number of physiological and behavioural processes, such as feeding selectivity and strategy and excretion. Moreover, no significant relationship was found between the accumulation factor (i.e. the ratio between the lipid-corrected concentrations in parasites and in their hosts) for polychlorinated biphenyls and either hydrophobicity or molecular size. At the intermediate hydrophobicity, larger and more lipophilic compounds are accumulated at higher levels in both parasites and the host than smaller and less lipophilic compounds. The bioaccumulation of POPs in parasites is affected by some other abiotic, e.g. temperature, and biotic factors, e.g. the number of host species infected by parasites.