Baseline Occurrence and distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in mussels from the gulf of Naples, Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy Raffaelina Mercogliano a, ⁎, Serena Santonicola a , Alessandra De Felice b , Aniello Anastasio a , Nicoletta Murru a , Maria Carmela Ferrante a , Maria Luisa Cortesi a a Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Production, University of Naples, Italy b DVM, Italy abstract article info Article history: Received 6 July 2015 Received in revised form 6 January 2016 Accepted 14 January 2016 Available online 21 January 2016 To assess the potential impact of the industrial activity on food safety and risk for consumers, the aim of the study was to evaluate the levels of 14 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in 69 samples of wild and farm Mytilus galloprovincialis, collected in sites of coast of Gulf of Naples, Tyrrhenian Sea. All hydrocarbons were found in samples. Higher levels of pyrolytic PAHs were in wild than in farm mussels. Benzo(a)pyrene exceeded the Regulation (EC) n.835/11 levels of 1 μg/kg in 15 samples (71.42%) of wild and 25 samples (65.79%) of farm mussels. System of sum of 4 hydrocarbons exceeded the law level in 15 samples (71.42%) of wild and 21 samples (55.26%) of farm mussels. Wild mussel levels showed a potential impact of pyrolytic sources of PAH on food safety. Occurrence of carcinogenic PAHs should be a cause for concern, in areas where the mussels are being farmed for human consumption. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon Gulf of Naples Mytilus galloprovincialis The environmental quality of the marine ecosystems in the Gulf of Naples, marginal basin of the southeastern Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy, is directly influenced by human activities. Waters of the Gulf present hy- drographic and biological properties reflecting anthropic stress (Ribera d'Alcalà et al., 1989; Zingone et al., 1990, 2006; Uttieri et al., 2011). Farming of mussels for human consumption is a common practice in this area (Tornero and Ribera d'Alcalà, 2014). Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are hazardous environ- mental chemicals with carcinogenic and mutagenic properties (Neff, 1979; Piccardo et al., 2001). As pollutants PAHs enter in the marine en- vironment from a variety of sources: petrogenic (low molecular weight) compounds as the result of spillage of diesel oil and/or fuel oil, and pyrolitic (medium and high molecular weight) PAHs produced by the incomplete combustion of organic matter (Srogi, 2007; Tornero and Ribera d'Alcalà, 2014). Being filter-feeding, wild mussels have been used as sentinel organism for monitoring the uptake of hydrophobic contaminants, including PAHs in costal environment (Livingstone et al., 1992; Storelli and Marcotrigiano, 2001; Soriano et al., 2007). On the other hand mussels for human consumption represent an important source of human exposure to PAHs. Commission Regulation (EC) n.835/, 2011 fixed a maximum level of 6 μg/kg for Benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) as marker, and of 35 μg/kg for the system of sum of 4 hydrocarbons as marker, that is Benzo(a)pyrene, Chrisene, Benzo(a)nthracene, and Benzo(b)Fluoranthene (∑PAH4) in bivalve mollusks (EFSA, 2008). The aim of the study was to investigate the PAH contamination of wild and farmed mussels collected in the Gulf of Naples in order to assess the potential impact of industrial activity on the food safety and risk for consumers. Mediterranean mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) were collected by trawling to a depth of 30–60 m in marine areas of Bays of Pozzuoli and Naples, located on the northeastern coast of the Gulf. A total number of 69 samples were analyzed: 48 samples were collected from 16 breeding farms situated in classified harvesting sites, while 21 samples of wild mussels from no classified marine area located at 2.7 nautical miles from classified harvesting sites (Fig. 1). Levels of total PAHs, PAHs markers, and concentrations of carcino- genic PAHs were studied. From each site a pool of 30 individuals was collected and frozen at -20 °C until processing. Three replicate samples were carried out. About 1.5 g of homogenized tissue was saponified by 10 mL of 1 M KOH in an ethanol solution for 3 h at 80 °C in a water bath. Then 10 mL of water and 20 mL of cyclohexane were added, the samples were mixed by an orbital agitator for 5 min and stabled for 10 min The hexanic phase was recovered and the polar mixture was rinsed twice with two aliquots of cyclohexane. The extracts were filtered through filter paper, filled with sodium sulfate anhydrous and run-on a column filled with Florisil. The eluates were dried under a flow of air and dissolved in 1 mL of acetonitrile before the analysis (Dafflon et al., 1995). Quantitative analysis of PAHs was carried out using HPLC equipped with UV detector. PAHs were separated at ambient temperature using Marine Pollution Bulletin 104 (2016) 386–390 ⁎ Corresponding author at: Dipartimento di Medicina Veterinaria e Produzioni Animali, Facoltà di Medicina Veterinaria, Università “Federico II” di Napoli, Italy Via F.Delpino 1, 80137 Napoli, Italy. E-mail address: raffaella.mercogliano@unina.it (R. Mercogliano). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2016.01.015 0025-326X/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Marine Pollution Bulletin journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/marpolbul