Feral finfish, and their relationships with sediments and seawater, as a tool for risk assessment of PAHs in chronically polluted environments

Abstract

An integrated study has been carried out of the fate and effects of PAHs in fish living in a chronically polluted environment. Total PAH concentrations in different target organs (muscle, liver and gills), have been determined in five species of feral fish and possible histopathological effects and correlations of all these values with concentrations found in sediments and water column have been studied in two of these species. The Potency Equivalent Concentrations and Screening values (SVs), the Biota-to-sediment accumulation factors (BSAFs) and the Toxic Potency Assessment (TEQ) of sediment for fish have been calculated. Results show that levels found in target organs, the TEQs of sediment calculated for fish related to the SVs for fish consumption are of special concern. However, the index of pathologies shows a relatively low impact of PAHs on fish health. The use of feral finfish in risk assessment for PAHs in chronically polluted environments has been proved to be a useful tool to complement environmental diagnoses and improve their accuracy. This approach combines the measurement of total concentrations in different target organs of several appropriate species, the study of histopathological effects, and correlations between all these results and the concentrations found in associated sediments and column water.

PAHs and PCBs accumulated by SPMD-based virtual organisms and feral fish in Three Gorges Reservoir, China

“…The concentrations were also comparable to those in fish muscle from coast of Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America (Musa Bandowe et al, 2014;Soclo et al, 2008;Rojo-Nieto et al, 2014;Mashroofeh et al, 2015). The results indicated that PAH pollution in TGR was similar to many waters in the world.…”

The response of thyroid hormones, biochemical and enzymological biomarkers to pyrene exposure in common carp (Cyprinus carpio)

“…Increased plasma ALP activity in the present study could also be attributed to the renal and liver damage and dysfunction caused by the toxicant or to increased transphosphorylation activity (Banaee et al, 2011;Bhattacharya et al, 2008). It was previously demonstrated that PAH compounds can induce histopathological lesions such as necrosis in fish liver tissues (Tuvikene, 1995;Ortiz-Delgado et al, 2007;Rojo-Nieto et al, 2014). As a result, hepatocyte destruction leads to the liberation of aminotransferases into the circulation.…”

Ras oncogene and Hypoxia-inducible factor-1 alpha (hif-1α) expression in the Amazon fish Colossoma macropomum (Cuvier, 1818) exposed to benzo[a]pyrene.

“…Liver is one of the most important organs to be addressed, since it is responsible for the detoxification process in the organism, and it is the primary organ in the biotransformation of organic xenobiotics (Health, 1995, Hinton et al , 2001, Rojo-Nieto et al , 2014). …”