Relationships between toxicopathic hepatic lesions and exposure to chemical contaminants in English sole (Pleuronectes vetulus), starry flounder (Platichthys stellatus), and white croaker (Genyonemus lineatus) from selected marine sites on the Pacific Coast, USA.

Abstract

Relationships between hepatic lesions and chemical contaminant concentrations in sediments, stomach contents, liver tissue, and bile were statistically evaluated in three species of bottomfish, English sole (Pleuronectes vetulus), starry flounder (Platichthys stellatus), and white croaker (Genyonemus lineatus), captured from 27 urban and nonurban sites on the Pacific Coast from Alaska to southern California. Lesions detected were neoplasms, preneoplastic foci of cellular alteration, nonneoplastic proliferative lesions, unique or specific degenerative/necrotic lesions, nonspecific degenerative/necrotic lesions, and hydropic vacuolation of biliary epithelial cells and hepatocytes. In general, lesion prevalences were significantly higher in all three species captured at chemically contaminated urban sites, and certain lesions had significantly higher relative risks of occurrence at urban sites in Puget Sound, San Francisco Bay, the vicinity of Los Angeles, and San Diego Bay. Concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls, DDT and its derivatives, and chlordanes and dieldrin in sediment, stomach contents, liver, and fluorescent aromatic compounds in bile were significant risk factors for the occurrence of neoplastic, preneoplastic, nonneoplastic proliferative, and specific degenerative/necrotic lesions, as well as hydropic vacuolation. Fish age also had a significant influence on occurrence of several hepatic lesions, but gender was rarely a significant risk factor. These relationships provide strong evidence for the involvement of environmental contaminants in the etiology of hepatic lesions in several marine bottomfish species and clearly indicate the utility of these lesions as biomarkers of contaminant-induced effects in wild fish. Images Figure 2. A Figure 2. B Figure 3. Figure 4. A Figure 4. B

Effect of age on liver pathology and other diseases in flatfish: implications for assessment of marine ecological health status

“…Since calculation of an estimated annual rate of cancer is difficult for dab populations sampled as part of the UK CSEMP, it is only possible to compare apparent prevalence in those sub-populations sampled with the prevalence of cancer in other wildlife species. In this respect, the prevalence of neoplasia in dab captured from offshore sites in the UK is similar to that observed in beluga from the St. Lawrence estuary (Martineau et al 2002) and to several fish species sampled from estuarine environments (see Myers et al 1987, 1994, 1998a,b, 2003, Stehr et al 1997, Vogelbein et al 1990. Furthermore, the prevalence of pre-neoplastic liver lesions in dab sampled from several UK sites is similar to that observed in the flatfish Parophrys vetulus captured from PAH-contaminated sites in Puget Sound in the 1980s, prior to the remediation of harbour sediments via capping (Myers et al 2008).…”

“…Grossly visible diseases present in these sentinel species include lymphocystis, epidermal hyperplasia and papilloma, acute and healing ulcerations of the skin and hyperpigmentation of the skin. The presence of grossly visible liver tumours (neoplasms) is also recorded routinely since, in flatfish, liver neoplasia likely represents a biological endpoint of historic exposure to chemicals that initiate and promote carcinogenic pathways (Myers et al 1990, 1994, Schiewe et al 1991, Reichert et al 1998. In addition to the recording of grossly visible neoplasms, histopathological assessment of liver samples from flatfish populations collected under CSEMP allows for the detection and diagnosis of microscopic lesions not visible during gross fish assessments (see Stentiford et al 2009).…”

Liver histopathology in Baltic flounder (Platichthys flesus) as indicator of biological effects of contaminants

“…Because of the growing evidence of a cause-effect relationship between environmental contaminants and the occurrence of toxicopathic liver lesions in fish (Malins et al, 1988;Kö hler, 1990;Kö hler et al, 1992;Stein et al, 1992;Vethaak and Rheinallt, 1992;Moore and Myers, 1994;Myers et al, 1991Myers et al, , 1992Myers et al, , 1994Myers et al, , 1998aStehr et al, 1998;Stentiford et al, 2003;Feist et al, 2004), studies on liver histopathology in fish have increasingly been incorporated in national marine biological effects monitoring programmes (Lang, 2002a;Feist et al, 2004). On an international level, such studies are in the process of being implemented in integrated environmental monitoring and assessment programmes, e.g., as part of the OSPAR Coordinated Environmental Monitoring Programme (CEMP) for the northeast Atlantic (OSPAR, 2004).…”

“…The majority of studies on liver histopathology in flatfish species in relation to contaminants has been carried out in coastal waters of the USA (e.g., Malins et al, 1985aMalins et al, ,b, 1988Myers et al, 1991Myers et al, , 1992Myers et al, , 1994Myers et al, , 1998aStein et al, 1992;Moore et al, 1997;Stehr et al, 1998) and in the North Sea (e.g., Kranz and Dethlefsen, 1990;Bucke and Feist, 1993;Kö hler, 1990;Kö hler et al, 1992;Lang, 2002b;Stentiford et al, 2003). For the Baltic Sea, there is only limited information available, largely resulting from data generated within the 1994 ICES/BMB Workshop on Fish Diseases and Parasites in the Baltic Sea Bogovski et al, 1999) and some national studies (Bogovski, 1994;Lang and Dethlefsen, 1994;Wiklund and Bylund, 1994).…”

“…Liver tissue samples were taken randomly from a defined number of flounder from four coastal sampling areas in the Baltic Sea (Swedish east coast, Lithuanian coast, Gulf of Gdansk, Wismar Bay) and were studied histologically for the presence of a wider range of lesions. The categories of liver lesions included in the examination are widely accepted as useful indicators for monitoring biological effects of environmental stressors, in particular contaminants, and ranged from non-specific lesions with a largely unclear linkage to contaminants to early toxicopathic non-neoplastic, pre-neoplastic, benign neoplastic and malignant neoplastic lesions, known to be associated with exposure to carcinogenic or non-carcinogenic contaminants (Malins et al, 1988;Myers et al, 1994;ICES, 1997;Feist et al, 2004). A scoring system was applied, the basic assumption of which is an increasing likelihood for a linkage to contaminant exposure (carcinogenic compounds in particular) from non-specific lesions to malignant tumours.…”