Book Chapter & Symposium Paper Citations and Abstracts

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Cancer Inst. (NCI) have major responsibilities for determining the fate and risks of carcinogenic agents in the natural environment. Under the auspices of EPA/NCI, the Carcinogen Research Team at the U.S. EPA Lab, Gulf Breeze, has a major role in investigating the fate, effects, and risks of carcinogenic agents in the aquatic portion of the biosphere. In regard to this role, there is a need for practical, experimental exposure systems for the short term, and long term exposure of fishes and invertebrates in order to evaluate their responses to environmentally significant carcinogens. We have designed and tested an adaptable, aquatic laboratory system for flowing water or static water assays of carcinogenic or suspect carcinogenic agents against marine fishes. We report here the design, results of long term tests, and the future uses of the system for determining the risks of carcinogenic agents in the aquatic environment, and as a system complementary to mammalian assay systems, but which permits the phylogenetic expansion of carcinogen assay methodology. A pilot test of the described system has been completed. This test utilized flowing filtered, estuarine water, controlled water temperature, controlled photo period, controlled nutrition of test species, oxygen concentration monitoring, and various life cycle stages of the test fish, the sheepshead minnow, Cyprinodon variegatus, and the suspect carcinogenic herbicide, trifluralin. Continuous exposures to 1 to 5 µg/l trifluralin were conducted with zygote, thru embryogenesis to adult stages of the fish.

Couch, John A. 1981. Viral Diseases of Invertebrates Other Than Insects. In: Pathogenesis of Invertebrate Microbial Diseases. EPA-600/D-80-055. Elizabeth W. Davidson, Editor. Allenheld, Osmun, Totowa, NJ. Pp. 127-160. (ERL,GB 274). (Avail. from NTIS, Springfield, VA: PB82-155292)

Considerable recent interest has focused on the discovery of viruses that cause diseases in non-insect invertebrates. Since Vago (1966) reported the first virus disease of a marine crustacean, viruses and/or viral diseases have been reorted for shrimps, crabs, daphnids, entoniscid isopods, oysters of several genera, octopods and squids, annelids, trematodes, nematodes, hydra, and a sponge. Most of the reports contained only brief descriptions of the virus with little information on pathogenesis in the hosts. A few reports have been more extensive and contain detailed descriptions of virus-related pathogenesis and virus-host cell relationships. This chapter will describe some aspects of the pathogenesis of better known virus diseases in several exemplary non-insect invertebrate hosts. Also included will be brief descriptions of some lesser known viruses in other invertebrates to demonstrate the range of relationships among viral groups and non-insect invertebrates. Available information on the histopathogenesis, cellular pathogenesis, physiological, and behavioral responses to select host-virus interactions will be discussed under the headings of virus/host types (Table 5-1)

Cripe, Geraldine M., DelWayne R. Nimmo and Timothy L. Hamaker. 1981. Effects of Two Organophosphate Pesticides on Swimming Stamina of the Mysid Mysidopsis bahia. In: Biological Monitoring of Marine Pollutants. J. Vernberg, F. Thurberg, A. Calabrese, and W. Vernberg, Editors. Academic Press, Inc., New York, NY. Pp. 21-36. (ERL,GB 387).

A stamina tunnel was used to measure the ability of mysid shrimp, Mysidopsis bahia, to maintain position in a water current. The Maximum Sustained Speed (MSS) in cm/sec was obtained for seven age groups (2 to 22 days old) for laboratory-reared and feral mysids. Differences in the MSS due to genetic history (laboratory vs. feral parents) demonstrated by comparing age groups were not significant, except between 12-day-old laboratory-raised and 12-day-old feral mysids. The MSS of 17-day-old males or females was not significantly different. In tests with organophosphate insecticides, after 96 hours of exposure to 0.10, 0.31, and 0.58 µg methyl parathion/l, the threshold dose for significant reduction of MSS for 4-day-old M. bahia was between 0.31 and 0.58 µg/l; and for an exposure to 0.045, 0.078 and 0.18 µg phorate/l, was between 0.078 and 0.18 µg/l. After 4 days of exposure, both methyl parathion and phorate reduced stamina at or near the concentration that reduced reproduction in a 28-day life-cycle test. The stamina tunnel may be useful as a rapid screening tool to predict long-term effects of pesticides or other toxicants on M. bahia.

Bahner, Lowell H. and Jerry L. Oglesby. 1981. Models for Predicting Bioaccumulation and Ecosystem Effects of Kepone and Other Materials. In: Environmental Risk Analysis for Chemicals. Richard A. Conway, Editor. Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., NY. Pp. 461-473. (ERL,GB 389).

In this report, regression and kinetic ecosystem models are discussed. Nonlinear regression models are applied to laboratory data concerning (1) uptake of the insecticide, Kepone, from water, food, or sediments by estuarine fishes and invertebrates, (2) stimulation or inhibition of growth of several algal species that were exposed to textile industry effluents or Kepone in flask assays, and (3) cumulative spawning by grass shrimp exposed to several concentrations of the pesticide, endrin. Also briefly discussed is a complex ecosystem model using mass-balance kinetic equations to compute the distribution of Kepone in the James River.

Rao, K. Ranga, Ferris R. Fox, Philip J. Conklin and Angela C. Cantelmo. 1981. Comparative Toxicology and Pharmacology of Chlorophenols: Studies on the Grass Shrimp, Palaemonetes pugio. In: Biological Monitoring of Marine Pollution. EPA-600/D-81-165. J. Vernberg, F. Thurberg, A. Calabrese, and W. Vernberg, Editors. Academic Press, Inc., New York, NY. Pp. 37-72. (ERL,GB X235).

Experiments with the grass shrimp, Palaemonetes pugio, to assess the toxicity of several chlorophenols: 2,4-dichlorophenol, 2,4,5-trichlorophenol, 2,4,6-trichlorophenol, 2,3,4,5-tetrachlorophenol, 2,3,4,6-tetrachlorophenol, 2,3,5,6-tetrachlorophenol, and pentachlorophenol are described. Authors report a cyclic variation in grass shrimp susceptibility to various chlorophenols in relation to the molt cycle. With the exception of 2,4-dichlorophenol, the various chlorophenols were more toxic to molting shrimp than to non-molting, intermolt shrimp. Radio-tracer studies with 14C-2,4,5-trichlorophenol and 14C-pentachlorophenol indicated that the higher toxicity of these chlorophenols to molting shrimp is due to an increased bioaccumulation of these during the period shortly after molting.

Tan, Barrie, Melvin V. Kilgore, David L. Elam, Paul Melius and W.P. Schoor. 1981. Metabolites of Benzo(a)pyrene in Aroclor 1254 Treated Mullet. In: Aquatic Toxicology and Hazard Assessment, ASTM STP 737. D.R. Branson and K.L. Dickson, Editors. American Society for Testing and Materials, Philadelphia, PA. Pp. 239-246. (ERL,GB X267).

This paper presents a systematic approach to the separation and characterization of benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) metabolites using the efficient analytical technique of high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC). Hepatic (S-9) preparations from Aroclor 1254 treated mullet (Mugil cephalus) were used to study the in vitro metabolism of (BaP). The lipid-soluble hydroxylated products were extracted in ethyl acetate prior to HPLC analysis. Three diols (9,10; 7,8; and 4,5) and two phenols (9 and 3) of (BaP) were isolated and identified from their unresolvable quinones. The results obtained in the mullet were compared to those obtained in the rat (Rattus norvegicus).

Tan, Barrie, Paul Melius and John Grizzle. 1981. Hepatic Enzymes and Tumor Histopathology of Black Bullheads with Papillomas. In: Chemical Analysis and Biological Fate: Polynuclear Aromatic Hydrocarbons. Marcus Cooke and Anthony J. Dennis, Editors. Battelle Press, Columbus, OH. Pp. 377-386. (ERL,GB X276).

In this study, an unusually high incidence of papillomas (70+-5%) in black bullheads (Ictalurus melas) found in a two-acre final oxidation sewage pond (in Tuskegee, Alabama) was described. The unique feature was that the aeration (maintained by 4 large aerators) and chlorination (3mg chlorine/liter) processes were achieved in this final oxidation pond. This report describes a biochemical (hepatic enzymes) comparison of the bullheads in two ponds (polluted sewage treatment pond and pollution-free nearby pond), 'laboratory' experiments that employed some silver carp (Hypophthalmicthys molitrix) introduced into the sewage pond, a brief summary of the tumor histopathology, and a discussion of the possible route/agent(s) responsible for the high tumor incidence.

Mix, Michael C., Randy L. Schaffer and Susan J. Hemingway. 1981. Polynuclear Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Bay Mussels (Mytilus edulis) from Oregon. In: Phyletic Approaches to Cancer: Proceedings of the 11th International Symposium of the Princess Takamatsu Cancer Research Fund. Tokyo, 1980. Clyde J. Dawe, Editor. Japan Scientific Society Press, Tokyo. Pp. 167-177. (ERL,GB X355).

Total concentrations of 15 unsubstituted polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PNAH), including phenanthrene, fluoranthene, pyrene, benzo(c)phenanthrene, triphenylene, benz(a)anthracene, chrysene, benzo(b)fluoranthene, benzo(k)fluoranthene, dibenz(a,c)anthracene, benzo(a)pyrene (BP), dibena(a,h)anthracene, benzo(g,h,i)perylene, indeno(1,2,3-c,d)pyrene, and coronene, were measured monthly in Mytilus edulis populations from 2 sites on Yaquina Bay, Oregon. PNAH concentrations from site Y1M ranged from 141-401 ug/kg while those from site Y2M were higher, 673-1,324 ug/kg. Seasonal variations were evident in mussels from Y2M but not Y1M; highest PNAH concentrations were present during January-March.

Oglesby, Jerry L. and Charles M. Bundrick. 1981. Comparison of Several Approaches for Calculating LC50's for Binary Responses Obtained from Toxicological Experiments. In: Proceedings of the 6th Annual SAS Users Group International Conference, Orlando, FL, 8-11 February, 1981. SAS Institute, Cary, NC. Pp. 142-149. (ERL,GB X407).

When the guidelines as proposed by the Committee on Methods for Toxicity Tests with Aquatic Organisms are met and the x (squared) goodness of fit test is insignificant, then the methods herein discussed--probit, logit, moving average, and binomial--give very similar results. However, if doubt exists concerning the assumption of an appropriate 'fundamental curve,' then the moving average method should be calculated and perhaps be given more credibility than both parametric approaches. In addition, the binomial will likely produce a reasonable LC50 estimate, but in light of the high degree of conservatism associated with the binomial limits, they should generally be reserved for those situations when all other methods are doubtful. In any situation, graphical procedures for estimating LC50's should be used only for quick 'looks' at the data. However, graphical displays of the data for reasons other than estimation, may appropriately be the first order of analyses. The analyses for the logit, moving average, and binomial methods were done using a SAS Macro developed bu the authors. In addition, these routines are available in Fortran currently operational on Digital Equipment Corporations' PDP 11/70 Computer System.