Hepatic 7-ethoxyresorufin-<i>O</i>-deethylase activity, plasma steroid hormone concentrations, and liver bioassay-derived 2,3,7,8-TCDD toxic equivalent concentrations in wild white sucker (<i>Catostomus commersoni</i>) caged in bleached kraft pulp mill effluent

Livers were collected from six male and six female white sucker (Catostomus commersoni) at both a bleached‐kraft pulp mill effluent (BKME)‐exposed site and a reference site during the 1992 spring spawning migration. A semistandardized methodology for 7‐ethoxyresorufin‐O‐deethylase (EROD) analysis was proposed that featured similar physical and chemical conditions yet allowed for different instrumentation and techniques. Postmitochondrial supernatants (PMSs) were analyzed for EROD activity by 14 laboratories, and repeat EROD analyses were performed within one laboratory to estimate within‐laboratory variability. All laboratories found significantly higher levels of EROD activity (approximately threefold) in males from the BKME‐exposed site; only 5 of 14 laboratories found significantly higher levels in exposed females. Data from three labs were dropped from the analysis because of outlying values. The mean coefficient of variation (C.V.) for the remaining 11 laboratories was 34.7%, which was not significantly different from the C.V. determined for six analyses by one technician (28.4%). The mean C.V. for five analysts within one laboratory was significantly lower (16.4%) than either of the former values. There was no difference in absolute values or the variability of microplate and conventional EROD assay data. Analysis of Bradford and Lowry protein data showed that both assays have low variability (C.V.s = 16.8 and 17.4%, respectively); these two techniques produced very similar estimates of protein content. Immunochemical analysis demonstrated a significant correlation existed among microsomal P4501A concentration and EROD activity. Sources of commercially available resorufin standard were tested, and the mean molar extinction coefficient was 54.0 ± 1.1 cm−1 mM−1.

Second‐round interlaboratory comparison of hepatic ethoxyresorufin‐O‐deethylase activity in white sucker (Catostomus commersoni) exposed to bleached‐kraft pulp mill effluent

Heuvel

Dixon

Munkittrick

et al. 1995

Evaluation of temporal and age‐related trends of chemically and biologically generated 2,3,7,8‐tetrachlorodibenzo‐p‐dioxin equivalents in lake Ontario lake trout, 1977 to 1993

Huestis

Servos

Whittle

et al. 1997

Levels of selected non-, mono-, and di-ortho-substituted polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners, polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) were determined in 4-year-old lake trout from the eastern basin of Lake Ontario, collected from 1977 to 1993. Results confirm that overall levels of contaminants have decreased steadily in lake trout since 1977, and that coplanar PCB levels do not appear to be increasing over time in relation to levels of other PCBs. Contaminant levels in lake trout from 3 to 9 years old, collected in 1988 from the western end of Lake Ontario, show the body burden of contaminants increases with age. Relative levels of coplanar PCBs to other PCBs for the age study samples showed no change, except for PCB 77, which exhibited a slight decrease in relation to total PCB levels. Toxic equivalents (TEQs) were calculated from fish contaminant concentrations measured for the time study using toxic equivalence factors (TEFs) from both mammalian and teleost studies. The relative contributions of PCBs, PCDDs, and PCDFs to total TEQs were examined. When TEFs used for risk assessment are applied to temporal trend data, 15 to 20% of the total TEQs were due to mono-ortho-substituted PCBs; 40 to 50% to non-ortho coplanar PCBs; and 20 to 30% to 2,3,7,8-substituted PCDD and PCDFs. The TEQs determined from lake trout extracts by an H4IIE cell bioassay technique are compared to those determined by chemical analyses, using a variety of TEFs.

Source and identity of compounds in a thermomechanical pulp mill effluent inducing hepatic mixed‐function oxygenase activity in fish

Martel

Kovács

O’Connor

et al. 1997

Abstract-The source and identity of two mixed-function oxygenase (MFO)-inducing substances present in the primary-treated effluent of a thermomechanical pulp (TMP) mill producing newsprint was determined. The source was pinpointed by exposing rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) to various process effluents sampled throughout the mill. Exposure concentrations were based on the flow of these process streams in relation to the final effluent flow. Contaminated TMP steam condensates were identified as the major process source of MFO-inducing substances. Using conventional extraction and fractionation procedures, an MFOinducing fraction was isolated. The major gas chromatographic peaks in this fraction were identified by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry as juvabione, dehydrojuvabione, and manool, all naturally occurring extractives in balsam fix (Abies balsamea). These substances were extracted and isolated from balsam fir and TMP condensates. Trout exposed to juvabione and dehydrojuvabione responded by exhibiting significant hepatic MFO inductions. No MFO induction was observed for manool. Secondary treatment in an activated sludge system effectively eliminated the MFO-inducing potential of the combined mill effluent consistent with a corresponding 90% reduction of both juvabione and dehydrojuvabione.