Skin and Liver Diseases Induced in Flounder (Platichthys flesus) after Long-Term Exposure to Contaminated Sediments in Large-Scale Mesocosms

Abstract

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and Brogan & Partners are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Environmental Health Perspectives. Disease development in flounder (Platichthysflesus) was studied over a period of 3 years in three large mesocosms (40 m x 40 m x 3 m). Two of the mesocosms contained clean sand and the third, sharing a common water circulation with one of the cean-sand mesocosms, was stocked with contaminated dredged spoil. In this way, one of the clean-sand mesocosms was indirectly polluted via the water phase, and analysis of contaminant concentrations in sediments and flounder tissues showed that it had a status intermediate between the other two. Random samples of the flounder populations from the indirectly polluted and reference mesocosms were examined every 2 months for epidermal diseases (lymphocystis, skin ulcers, fin rot) and then released. In addition, every 6 months, random samples of fish from all three mesocosms were sacrificed for histological and chemical investigation. With regard to the development of epidermal disease, the results showed little difference between the reference mesocosm and the indirectly polluted mesocosm, with the exception that lymphocystis was significantly elevated in the indirectly polluted mesocosm. Although pollution may be a risk factor in the etiology of this disease, such a relationship would probably be obscured under field conditions due to variation arising from other factors. Histopathological analysis of the livers revealed in total four cases of hepatocellular adenoma (1.5% of sampled populations) in fish from the polluted mesocosms, the first occurring after 2.5 years of exposure in fish from the indirectly polluted mesocosm. Furthermore, several other liver lesions, including foci of cellular alteration and hydropic vacuolated lesions, developed during the course of the experiment before tumor formation was apparent. Prevalences of these conditions were very much lower in the reference mesocosm than in the two polluted mesocosms. Densities of melanomacrophage centers in the liver showed a similar trend. The findings clearly indicate that long-term exposure to chemically contaminated dredged spoil can induce liver neoplasia and other liver lesions in flounder at contaminant levels comparable to those found in the natural environment.

Biomarker responses in flounder Platichthys flesus from the Polish coastal area of the Baltic Sea and applications in biomonitoring

“…Several comprehensive studies using histopathological parameters have demonstrated clear relationships between environmental pollution and fish disease. The relationships, for instance, between pollution levels, biomarker responses and skin and liver diseases in flounder after long-term exposure to PAH-and PCB-contaminated sediments in a mesocosm study were reported by Vethaak et al (1996). Existing long-term data on external visible diseases for flounder from the southern Baltic could provide links to population health.…”

Hepatic proteome changes in Solea senegalensis exposed to contaminated estuarine sediments: a laboratory and in situ survey

“…Still, although some authors already reported differences between laboratory and field assays with fish for the purpose of biomonitoring natural sediments (for instance, Vethaak et al 1996;Hatch and Burton 1999), little research exists comparing the two types of bioassays directly and fewer or none reporting on ''omics''. Regardless of the methodology to determine the effects and responses to toxicity in organisms, such comparison has been determined of relevance since field (in situ) assays are affected by environmental variables other than contamination; laboratory assays, on the other hand, are rarely ecologically realistic and tend to be conservative (Chapman 2007).…”

Toxicology and Immunotoxicology of Mercury: A Comparative Review in Fish and Humans

“…Environmental contaminants have the potential to adversely affect aspects of fish life histories (National Research Council, 1996) through effects on developing eggs and larvae, or by immunosuppression (Vethaak et al, 1996). Because fish are (1) an important source of human food, sport, and recreation, (2) frequently exposed to a wide variety of potentially toxic chemicals, (3) capable of accumulating and concentrating xenobiotics, and (4) recognized for some species having an increased incidence of tumors (Zeeman & Brindley, 1981;Grizzle, 1990;Baumann et al, 1996;Hicks, 1996), the need to examine effects of toxic agents on the fish immune system is increasing.…”