Biochemical and toxicopathic biomarkers assessed in smallmouth bass recovered from a polychlorinated biphenyl-contaminated river

Abstract

Smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) were collected to quantify the nature and prevalence of biomarker responses, including biochemical indices, toxicopathic lesions and general health indices, among fish collected from polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB)-contaminated and nearby uncontaminated reaches of the Kalamazoo River, Michigan, USA. Blood and tissue samples (gill, liver, spleen, head kidney, trunk kidney, thyroid and gonads) were collected and preserved at necropsy for biochemical and histological analyses. The body condition factor and liver somatic index were significantly lower in fish collected from the downstream, contaminated site. Plasma vitellogenin was not detected in male fish collected from either site. Liver ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase activity and liver and spleen superoxide dismutase activity were significantly depressed in fish collected from the downstream site. Significant toxicopathic lesions such as glycogen depletion, enhanced macrophage aggregates, hepatic foci of cellular alteration (i.e. preneoplastic lesions) and neoplasia were also detected in the liver of fish collected from the downstream site. This study indicates that many of the biochemical and histopathological biomarker responses were associated with liver and body tissue PCB concentrations. Taken together, the biomarkers of exposure and effect strongly suggest that fish within the downstream site are adversely affected by PCBs and other chemical stressors.

Histologic, immunologic and endocrine biomarkers indicate contaminant effects in fishes of the Ashtabula River

“…While increased HSI has been used as an indicator of contaminant-associated (Fabacher and Baumann 1985;Pinkney et al 2001), this biomarker did not support evidence of differences between rivers in the present study. Reduced condition factor (Ktl) in wild species inhabiting ecosystems contaminated with organochlorines have been previously reported (Rocha and Monteiro 1999;Anderson et al 2003). Condition factor of brown bullhead collected from the Ashtabula River during October of 2003 was significantly lower than that from Conneaut Creek.…”

“…Elevated prevalence or size of macrophage aggregates have previously been used as an indicator of environmental degradation in a number of monitoring programs (Zdanowicz et al 1987;Bucke et al 1992;Long et al 1995;Fournie et al 2001). Exposure to heavy metals such as mercury (Meinelt et al 1997), pulp mill effluent (Couillard andHodson 1996), dioxins (van der Weiden et al 1994), crude oil (Khan and Kiceniuk 1984), polybrominated flame retardants (Raldúa et al 2008) and PCBs (Pierce et al 1980;Anderson et al 2003;Fisher et al 2008) leads to an increase in MAs. Bowser et al (1990) observed increased hepatic macrophage aggregates in brown bullhead collected at a site contaminated with PCBs and metals when compared to a reference site.…”

Site Specific PCB-Correlated Interspecies Differences in Organ Somatic Indices

“…As developmental toxicants, PCBs and related organochlorines are known to interact with and cause functional and morphological changes in most organs including, but not limited to, the nervous system (Henshel, 1998;McCarty and Secord, 1999a;DeWitt and Henshel, 2000), immune system (Fox and Grasman, 1999), heart (Henshel et al, 1993;Walker and Catron, 2000;Millsap et al, 2004;Yeager et al, 2004), liver (Anderson et al, 2003) and kidneys (Couture et al, 1990;Andreason et al, 2002) as a result of exposure during the embryonic and post-embryonic developmental periods. Changes in development and functioning of these organs, which control such diverse critical functions as behavior, protection against biological stressors, oxygen availability, metabolism and excretion can seriously impact survival and quality of life (Gilbertson et al, 1991).…”

Vitellogenin assay by enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay as a biomarker of endocrine disruptor chemicals pollution

“…[18] The Vtg assay in cell culture or fish plasma needs a quick, cheap, reliable, and efficient method to fulfill such a duty [19] and many researchers have already introduced different techniques to measure Vtg. [20], [7] An ELISA method for assaying Vtg has been described here.…”