Coplanar Polychlorinated Biphenyl Congeners in the Liver of Galeus melastomus from Different Areas of the Mediterranean Sea.

This article focuses on polychiorinated biphenyls. The group of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) comprise 209 synthetic compounds, reflecting a different chlorination with respect to the number and the position on the two coupled biphenyl rings. Several studies have shown that these compounds exhibit a broad range of toxicological responses including immunotoxicity, reproductive deficits, teratogenicity, endocrine toxicity and carcinogenity/tumor promotion. The determination of polychiorinated biphenyls in fish species representative of different regions may provide relevant information on pollution sources, transport pathways, spatial distributions and fate in the marine environment.