Biomarkers of PAH Exposure in an Intertidal Fish Species from Prince William Sound, Alaska:  2004−2005

Huggett, Robert J.; Neff, Jerry M.; Stegeman, John J.; Woodin, Bruce R.; Parker, Keith R.; Brown, John H.

doi:10.1021/es0608489

Cited by 19 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…The composition of the residual constituent PAHs has changed over time, leaving higher-molecular-weight, less-bioavailable compounds, as shown in PAH levels in intertidal animals ( e.g., Huggett et al . 2003 , 2006 ; Boehm et al . 2004 ; Neff et al .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Quantitative Ecological Risk Assessment of the Toxicological Risks fromExxon ValdezSubsurface Oil Residues to Sea Otters at Northern Knight Island, Prince William Sound, Alaska

Harwell¹,

Gentile

Johnson

et al. 2010

Human and Ecological Risk Assessment: An International Journal

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A comprehensive, quantitative risk assessment is presented of the toxicological risks from buried Exxon Valdez subsurface oil residues (SSOR) to a subpopulation of sea otters (Enhydra lutris) at Northern Knight Island (NKI) in Prince William Sound, Alaska, as it has been asserted that this subpopulation of sea otters may be experiencing adverse effects from the SSOR. The central questions in this study are: could the risk to NKI sea otters from exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in SSOR, as characterized in 2001–2003, result in individual health effects, and, if so, could that exposure cause subpopulation-level effects? We follow the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) risk paradigm by: (a) identifying potential routes of exposure to PAHs from SSOR; (b) developing a quantitative simulation model of exposures using the best available scientific information; (c) developing scenarios based on calculated probabilities of sea otter exposures to SSOR; (d) simulating exposures for 500,000 modeled sea otters and extracting the 99.9% quantile most highly exposed individuals; and (e) comparing projected exposures to chronic toxicity reference values. Results indicate that, even under conservative assumptions in the model, maximum-exposed sea otters would not receive a dose of PAHs sufficient to cause any health effects; consequently, no plausible toxicological risk exists from SSOR to the sea otter subpopulation at NKI.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Quantitative Ecological Risk Assessment of the Toxicological Risks fromExxon ValdezSubsurface Oil Residues to Sea Otters at Northern Knight Island, Prince William Sound, Alaska

Harwell¹,

Gentile

Johnson

et al. 2010

Human and Ecological Risk Assessment: An International Journal

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“…The low PAH concentrations in near-shore waters also are confirmed by low levels of cytochrome P450 mixed-function oxygenase (CYP1A) activity in high cockscomb (Anoplarchus purpurascens), a fish with high site fidelity that lives among rocks in the lower intertidal zone in PWS and feeds primarily on small amphipods, crabs, and polychaetes [42]. Huggett et al [42] found that hepatic CYP1A activity (measured as ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase [EROD) activity) was low and not significantly different in fish from unoiled shores (20.4 AE 4.0 pmol/ min/mg protein) and from shores containing SSOR (28.2 AE 5.0 pmol/min/mg protein).…”

Section: Pathway 1: the Water Columnmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Huggett et al [42] found that hepatic CYP1A activity (measured as ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase [EROD) activity) was low and not significantly different in fish from unoiled shores (20.4 AE 4.0 pmol/ min/mg protein) and from shores containing SSOR (28.2 AE 5.0 pmol/min/mg protein). High cockscomb and their prey collected on oiled and unoiled shores in 2002 contained low concentrations of TPAH, primarily from pyrogenic sources [21].…”

Section: Pathway 1: the Water Columnmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exposure of sea otters and harlequin ducks in Prince William Sound, Alaska, USA, to shoreline oil residues 20 years after the Exxon Valdez oil spill

Neff¹,

Page

Boehm

2011

Enviro Toxic and Chemistry

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We assessed whether sea otters and harlequin ducks in an area of western Prince William Sound, Alaska, USA (PWS), oiled by the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill (EVOS), are exposed to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) from oil residues 20 years after the spill. Spilled oil has persisted in PWS for two decades as surface oil residues (SOR) and subsurface oil residues (SSOR) on the shore. The rare SOR are located primarily on the upper shore as inert, nonhazardous asphaltic deposits, and SSOR are confined to widely scattered locations as small patches under a boulder/cobble veneer, primarily on the middle and upper shore, in forms and locations that preclude physical contact by wildlife and diminish bioavailability. Sea otters and harlequin ducks consume benthic invertebrates that they collect by diving to the bottom in the intertidal and subtidal zones. Sea otters also dig intertidal and subtidal pits in search of clams. The three plausible exposure pathways are through the water, in oil-contaminated prey, or by direct contact with SSOR during foraging. Concentrations of PAH in near-shore water off oiled shores in 2002 to 2005 were at background levels (<0.05 ng/L). Median concentrations of PAH in five intertidal prey species on oiled shores in 2002 to 2008 range from 4.0 to 34 ng/g dry weight, indistinguishable from background concentrations. Subsurface oil residues are restricted to locations on the shore and substrate types, where large clams do not occur and where sea otters do not dig foraging pits. Therefore, that sea otters and harlequin ducks continue to be exposed to environmentally significant amounts of PAH from EVOS 20 years after the spill is not plausible.

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“…This has been pointed out, for instance, in the debate around the alleged full recovery of the Prince William Sound in Alaska following the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989, with opposing scientists working under corporate or public funding [see the note by Renner (118), as a response to the study of Hugget et al (119) who claimed that a local fish, the prickleback Anoplarchus purpurescens, was no longer affected even though oils are still present in sediments]. The constraints apply to the comet assay as for other biomarkers techniques, regardless of end point.…”

Section: Technical Aspects Of the Comet Assay On Marine Wildlifementioning

confidence: 99%

Visualizing social media’s impact on local communities

Bingham-Hall¹,

Tidey

2016

Visual Communication

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Determining the genotoxic effects of pollutants has long been a priority in Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA) for coastal ecosystems, especially of complex areas such as estuaries and other confined waterbodies. The acknowledged link between DNA damage, mutagenicity and carcinogenicity to the exposure to certain toxicants has been responsible to the growing interest in determining the genotoxic effects of xenobiotics to wildlife as a measure of environmental risk. The comet assay, although widely employed in in vivo and in vitro toxicology, still holds many constraints in ERA, in large part owing to difficulties in obtaining conclusive cause-effect relationships from complex environments. Nevertheless, these challenges do not hinder the attempts to apply the alkaline comet assay on sentinel organisms, wild or subjected to bioassays in or ex situ (from fish to molluscs) as well to standardise protocols and establish general guidelines to the interpretation of findings. Fish have been regarded as an appealing subject due to the ease of performing the comet assay in whole blood. However, the application of the comet assay is becoming increasingly common in invertebrates (e.g. in molluscan haemocytes and solid tissues such as gills). Virtually all sorts of results have been obtained from the application of the comet assay in ERA (null, positive and inconclusive). However, it has become clear that interpreting DNA damage data from wild organisms is particularly challenging due to their ability to adapt to continuous environmental stressors, including toxicants. Also, the comet assay in non-model organisms for the purpose of ERA implies different constraints, assumptions and interpretation of findings, compared with the in vitro procedures from which most guidelines have been derived. This paper critically reviews the application of the comet assay in ERA, focusing on target organisms and tissues; protocol developments, case studies plus data handling and interpretation. and the 32 P-postlabelling method for DNA-carcinogen adducts, most of which have been in use for decades. However, when Singh et al. (1) first published the protocol of the alkaline Single-Cell Gel Electrophoresis (SCGE), or 'comet' assay, as it is most commonly known, from the original 'neutral' variant developed by Östling and Johanson (2), few could have predicted the fast and widespread employment of this technique within the field of environmental toxicology. Besides the method's practicality and cost-effectiveness, the by guest on June 30, 2016 http://mutage.oxfordjournals.org/ Downloaded from Manerikar et al. (8), Ahmed et al. (9) TCDD 001746-01-6 1 E.andrei Sforzini et al. (7)The references provided concern illustrative in vivo case studies with ecologically relevant organisms subjected to laboratorial toxicity-testing bioassays that employed the comet assay to determine genotoxic effects. IARC classification of toxicants: 1) carcinogenic to humans; 3) not classifiable as to its carcinogenicity to humans.

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Biomarkers of PAH Exposure in an Intertidal Fish Species from Prince William Sound, Alaska: 2004−2005

Cited by 19 publications

References 20 publications

A Quantitative Ecological Risk Assessment of the Toxicological Risks fromExxon ValdezSubsurface Oil Residues to Sea Otters at Northern Knight Island, Prince William Sound, Alaska

A Quantitative Ecological Risk Assessment of the Toxicological Risks fromExxon ValdezSubsurface Oil Residues to Sea Otters at Northern Knight Island, Prince William Sound, Alaska

Exposure of sea otters and harlequin ducks in Prince William Sound, Alaska, USA, to shoreline oil residues 20 years after the Exxon Valdez oil spill

Visualizing social media’s impact on local communities

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