{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,18]],"date-time":"2026-08-18T05:14:29Z","timestamp":1787030069086,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":93,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,12,20]],"date-time":"2022-12-20T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1671494400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Ministry of Science and Education of the Republic of Croatia through Institutional Funding and partly by the project LIFE DINALP BEAR","award":["LIFE13 NAT\/SI\/000550"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["LIFE13 NAT\/SI\/000550"]}]},{"name":"European Commission under the \u201cHUNT\u201d project of the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development","award":["LIFE13 NAT\/SI\/000550"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["LIFE13 NAT\/SI\/000550"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Toxics"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Trace element pollution can adversely affect the brains of individuals and thus impact the entire population of apex predators, such as large European carnivores. We assessed exposure to prominent neurotoxicants As, Cd, Hg and Pb by measuring their brain stem levels in brown bears (n = 114), grey wolves (n = 8), Eurasian lynx (n = 3), and golden jackals (n = 2) sampled in 2015\u20132022 in Croatia. The highest of the non-essential elements was the Pb level in the bears\u02bc brains (median, Q1\u2013Q3; 11.1, 7.13\u201324.1 \u03bcg\/kg wet mass), with 4% of animals, all subadults, exceeding the established normal bovine levels (100 \u03bcg\/kg wet mass). Species-specific differences were noted for Ca, Cd, Cu, Fe, Pb and Se brain levels. Female brown bears had higher As brain levels than males. Cubs and yearlings had lower brain Cd, but higher Zn, while subadults had higher Cu than adult bears. Hepatic As, Cd, Cu and Hg levels were shown to be a moderate proxy for estimating brain levels in bears (rS = 0.30\u20130.69). Multiple associations of As, Cd, Hg and Pb with essential elements pointed to a possible interaction and disturbance of brain Ca, Cu, Fe, Se and Zn homeostasis. Non-essential element levels in the brains of four studied species were lower than reported earlier for terrestrial meso-carnivores and humans. The age and sex of animals were highlighted as essential factors in interpreting brain element levels in ecotoxicological studies of large carnivores.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/toxics11010004","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,12,21]],"date-time":"2022-12-21T02:31:33Z","timestamp":1671589893000},"page":"4","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["Lead and Other Trace Element Levels in Brains of Croatian Large Terrestrial Carnivores: Influence of Biological and Ecological Factors"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"11","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0389-9029","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Maja","family":"Lazarus","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6855-1018","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ankica","family":"Sekovani\u0107","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8110-384X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Slaven","family":"Relji\u0107","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Josip","family":"Kusak","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4957-1616","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Maja","family":"Feren\u010dakovi\u0107","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1391-3648","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Magda","family":"Sindi\u010di\u0107","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tomislav","family":"Gomer\u010di\u0107","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"\u0110uro","family":"Huber","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia"},{"name":"Institute of Nature Conservation, Polish Academy of Sciences, 31-343 Krakow, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,12,20]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"125688","DOI":"10.1016\/j.chemosphere.2019.125688","article-title":"A critical review about neurotoxic effects in marine mammals of mercury and other trace elements","volume":"246","year":"2020","journal-title":"Chemosphere"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"136","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neuro.2021.03.006","article-title":"Mercury and neurochemical biomarkers in multiple brain regions of five Arctic marine mammals","volume":"84","author":"Desforges","year":"2021","journal-title":"Neurotoxicology"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"169","DOI":"10.1016\/B978-0-444-62627-1.00011-1","article-title":"Chapter Eleven\u2014Neurotoxicity of metals","volume":"Volume 131","author":"Lotti","year":"2015","journal-title":"Occupational Neurology"},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"8244","DOI":"10.1007\/s11356-016-6333-x","article-title":"A review of toxicity and mechanisms of individual and mixtures of heavy metals in the environment","volume":"23","author":"Wu","year":"2016","journal-title":"Environ. 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