Sentinel Equines in Anthropogenic Landscapes: Bioaccumulation of Heavy Metals and Hematological Biomarkers as Indicators of Environmental Contamination.

ABSTRACT: Environmental contamination with heavy metals, resulting from industrialization, urbanization, and agricultural intensification, poses serious ecological and health risks. Horses, due to their grazing behavior and close association with human environments, serve as reliable sentinel species for assessing environmental pollution. This study aimed to evaluate the bioaccumulation of heavy metals and trace elements in different biological matrices of horses-blood, hair, hooves, and synovial fluid-and to investigate their relationship with hematological biomarkers as indicators of physiological stress. Samples were collected from horses raised in anthropogenically influenced areas and analyzed using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Hematological parameters were determined

SUBMITTER: Popescu M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12737071 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature