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Liver Concentrations of Copper, Zinc, Iron and Molybdenum in Sheep and Goats from Northern Greece, Determined by Energy-Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry

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Abstract

Energy-dispersive X-Ray fluorescence spectrometry was used to determine the concentrations of copper (Cu), zinc, iron and molybdenum in the liver of 76 sheep and goats from the regions of Macedonia-Thrace, northern Greece. In general, metal concentrations were in the adequate range, with one main exception of Cu-deficiency observed in all of the examined goat liver samples and Cu-toxicity found in 4 % of the sheep liver samples. One-way analysis of variance was carried out to determine significant differences among means depending on animal species, sex and age. Pearson correlation analysis was used to explore correlations between metal concentrations. The results obtained in the present study are discussed in the framework of diagnostic ranges, suggested for classifying the metal status of sheep and goats, and are compared with liver metal concentrations reported world-wide.

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Acknowledgments

Measurements were carried out at the energy-dispersive XRF spectrometry unit of the University of Ioannina.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, University of Ioannina, 451 10, Ioannina, Greece

    Christina Papachristodoulou, Konstantinos Stamoulis & Konstantinos Ioannides

  2. Centre of Veterinary Institutes, Institute of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, 546 27, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Panagiotis Tsakos & Christina Vougidou

  3. Centre of Veterinary Institutes, Institute of Food Hygiene, 546 27, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Vasileios Vozikis

  4. Food Microbiology Unit, Department of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, University of Ioannina, 451 10, Ioannina, Greece

    Chrissanthy Papadopoulou

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  1. Christina Papachristodoulou
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Papachristodoulou, C., Stamoulis, K., Tsakos, P. et al. Liver Concentrations of Copper, Zinc, Iron and Molybdenum in Sheep and Goats from Northern Greece, Determined by Energy-Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 94, 460–467 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-015-1496-6

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