Toxicity of retene to early life stages of two freshwater fish species

Abstract

Abstract-Larval zebrafish (Danio rerio) were exposed for 14 d to graded nominal concentrations of waterborne retene (7-isopropyl-1-methylphenanthrene) from 5 to 336 h postfertilization. Reduced growth, yolk sac edema, and mortality were observed before swim up at nominal concentrations of 320 g/L and higher in a concentration-dependent manner. Similarly, exposures of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) to retene (32-320 g/L) for 42 d from the eyed egg stage to hatch and from hatch to the onset of swim up behavior caused exposure-related increases in blue sac disease posthatch. Symptoms included increased activity of cytochrome P4501A (CYP1A) enzymes, yolk sac edema, subcutaneous hemorrhaging, reduced growth, and craniofacial malformations. Chronic exposure to retene resulted in mortality before swim up. Blue sac symptoms were observed in fish exposed to nominal concentrations as low as 32 g/L, the lowest concentration tested, and fin erosion and opercular sloughing were evident in 100% of retene-exposed swim up larvae. No symptoms were observed in control fish or in fish exposed to acetone, the solvent carrier. The observed pathology resembles the toxicity of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin toxicity to developing stages of fish, and our results suggest that chronic exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons may be responsible for recruitment failure associated with pulp mill effluents and oil spills.

Delayed effects on growth and marine survival of pink salmon Oncorhynchus gorbuscha after exposure to crude oil during embryonic development

“…However, even longer-term 'chronic exposure' tests may not provide a meaningful lowest effective concentration if inappropriate life stages are tested. Billiard et al (1999) reported that rainbow trout exposed to a 180 ppb concentration of retene between eyeing and hatching experienced decreased growth after swim-up, which would probably result in reduced survival, as it did for the pink salmon described here. Comparison of our results with those of Billiard et al (1999) suggests that exposure prior to hatching may have resulted in impacts at even lower concentrations.…”

Retene causes multifunctional transcriptomic changes in the heart of rainbow trout ( Oncorhynchus mykiss ) embryos

“…A decline in retene concentrations during fish embryo exposures has been observed before (Billiard et al, 1999,Scott and Hodson, 2008,Scott et al, 2009. During the first day retene was most probably adsorbed to vessel walls and accumulated by the embryos.…”

“…As an alkylphenanthrene, retene is representative of the compounds in petroleum products that cause dioxin-like developmental toxicity in fishes (Adams et al, 2014). Retene is an AhR agonist, and it causes BSD in early life stages of zebrafish, medaka, and rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) (Billiard et al, 1999,Kiparissis et al, 2003,Scott et al, 2011. The molecular mechanism of the developmental toxicity caused by retene depends on the AhR, and thus resembles that of TCDD in zebrafish (Scott et al, 2011).…”

Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: A Review of the Planktonic Response

“…PAHs are known to be highly toxic to larval herring, topsmelt, minnow, and salmon (Petersen and Kristensen, 1998;Heintz et al, 1999;Couillard et al, 2005). Toxic effects include hemorrhages, spinal deformities, growth retardation, and death (Billiard et al, 1999;Carls et al, 1999 (Kujawinski et al, 2011). The use of subsurface dispersants combined with high pressure and turbulence at the wellhead likely contributed to the formation of the subsurface oil plumes that were unique to the DWH (Kujawinski et al, 2011).…”