Current activities within the National Biomonitoring Specimen Bank

The U.S. National Biomonitoring Specimen Bank and the Marine Environmental Specimen Bank

The National Biomonitoring Specimen Bank (NBSB), established in 1979 at the NIST Neutron Research Facility, Gaithersburg, Maryland, was specifically designed to store environmental specimens over long periods of time (50-100 years). This bank contains specimens (e.g., human livers, marine sediments, fish tissues, mussels, oysters, human diet samples, and marine mammal tissues) collected as part of several monitoring and research programs supported by U.S. Federal agencies. In 2002, NIST completed the construction of a second environmental specimen bank facility specifically designed for supporting monitoring and research on marine environmental health issues. This facility, the Marine Environmental Specimen Bank (Marine ESB) is located at the Hollings Marine Laboratory in Charleston, South Carolina, in partnership with a U.S. Federal resource agency, two universities, and a State of South Carolina resource agency. The Marine ESB provides a resource of research specimens that are used to address questions regarding temporal and geographic trends in environmental contamination, genetic separation of populations of animals, and the health status of various types of marine animals. Specimens banked include marine mammal tissues, bird tissues, mussels, and oysters. Plans are underway to establish protocols and initiate banking procedures for other types of marine organisms and environmental materials as part of an expanded effort to support research on the health of marine biota.

Quality assurance in analysis of cryogenically stored liver tissue specimens from the NIST National Biomonitoring Specimen Bank (NBSB)

Portions of liver tissue specimens originally stored in the National Biomonitoring Specimen Bank (NBSB) and analyzed between 1980 and 1987 were re-analyzed in 1997 using instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) for the determination of 17 trace elements. Duplicate portions of each specimen had been stored at two different temperatures. The first was stored in a liquid nitrogen vapor-cooled freezer at -150 degrees C, standard NBSB storage conditions, and the other in an electric freezer maintained at -80 degrees C. Two portions of seven livers from each storage temperature were re-analyzed for this work. Results showed no changes in trace element content as a function of storage temperature, within the uncertainty of the method used. Results from these analyses agreed with results of initial analyses for most analytes in most sub-samples. Of the exceptions, five were due, in part, to an incorrect basis mass for the initial sub-specimen of one tissue, five with variable Zn results were attributed to difficulties in peak fitting for this element during INAA data processing, and the remaining were isolated differences discussed in this paper. Results of this work indicate that specimen storage and processing protocols are adequate to prevent noticeable contamination of specimens with trace elements, with the exception of Cr. Variability in Cr content was observed for the liver tissues which may have been caused by Cr contamination of the samples by the Teflon mill. Analyses of portions of Standard Reference Material (SRM) 1566a Oyster Tissue (certified in 1989) and SRM 1577a Bovine Liver (certified in 1982) were also included in this study for the purpose of quality control and to assess the stability of these freeze-dried powders that were stored at room temperature. No changes were observed in these materials.

Specimen banking of marine organisms in the United States: current status and long-term prospective

A major part of the activities conducted over the last decade by the National Biomonitoring Specimen Bank (NBSB) has involved the archival of marine specimens collected by ongoing environmental monitoring programs. These archived specimens include bivalves, marine sediments, and fish tissues collected by the National Status and Trends and the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Damage Assessment programs, and marine mammal tissues collected by the Marine Mammal Health and Stranding, Response Program and the Alaska Marine Mammal Tissue Archival Project. In addition to supporting these programs, the specimens have been used to investigate circumpolar patterns of chlorinated hydrocarbon concentrations, genetic separation of marine animal stocks, baseline levels of essential and nonessential elements in marine mammals, and the potential risk to human consumers in the Arctic from anthropogenic contaminants found in local subsistence foods. The NBSB specimens represent a resource that has the potential for addressing future issues of marine environmental quality and ecosystem changes through retrospective analysis; however, an ecosystem-based food web approach would maximize this potential. The current status of the NBSB activities related to the banking of marine organisms is presented and discussed, the long-term prospective of these activities is presented, and the importance of an ecosystem-based food web monitoring approach to the value of specimen banking is discussed.

Trace element concentrations in cetacean liver tissues archived in the National Marine Mammal Tissue Bank

The National Biomonitoring Specimen Bank (NBSB), a collaborative project of several U.S. government agencies, includes marine mammal tissues collected for the Alaska Marine Mammal Tissue Archival Project (AMMTAP) and the National Marine Mammal Tissue Bank (NMMTB). Tissues were collected from 139 animals representing 13 species of marine mammals from around the U.S. Recently, concentrations for up to 30 elements in liver tissues of nine long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas), six harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena), and four white-sided dolphins (Lagenorhynchus acutus) from the NMMTB were measured using instrumental neutron activation analysis. Results from analyses of these tissues are presented, compared with results for liver tissues from other marine mammals from the AMMTAP, and compared with published values.