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The mixed function oxidase system of bluegill sunfish, Lepomis macrochirus : Correlation of activities in experimental and wild fish
Author(s) -
Jimenez Braulio D.,
Burtis Lisa S.,
Ezell George H.,
Egan B. Z.,
Lee Norman E.,
Beauchamp J. J.,
McCarthy J. F.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
environmental toxicology and chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.1
H-Index - 171
eISSN - 1552-8618
pISSN - 0730-7268
DOI - 10.1002/etc.5620070804
Subject(s) - trout , zoology , biology , pollutant , chemistry , pyrene , lepomis macrochirus , fish <actinopterygii> , fishery , ecology , astrobiology
Environmental conditions can affect the metabolic transformation and accumulation of pollutants in aquatic organisms. Changes in temperature and feeding regimes had marked effects on the hepatic O ‐deethylation of 7‐ethoxyresorufin (EROD) activity in bluegill sunfish. Animals that were denied food and acclimated for 2 weeks to 4, 13 or 26°C water exhibited low and relatively uniform EROD activity at all temperatures. In contrast, fed fish acclimated at 26°C exhibited a sevenfold higher level of activity compared with those acclimated to 4°C. Starved fish acclimated to 26°C were capable of EROD induction following intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection with benzo[ a ]pyrene (BaP). Doses of 10 and 20 mg BaP kg −1 body weight increased EROD activity to 100 and 300 nmol min −1 mg −1 respectively, compared with 10 nmol min −1 mg −1 in fish injected with corn oil. Wild fish obtained from various stations along a polluted stream exhibited EROD activity levels comparable with those in laboratory fish injected with 20 mg BaP kg −1 fish. When starved fish were injected i.p. with a Purina Trout Chow extract, EROD activity was induced to levels comparable with those in laboratory‐fed (Trout Chow) fish; this suggests the presence of an inducer in the Trout Chow. Exposure of fed fish to pH 5, 7 and 9 for a 2‐week period at 26°C had no effect on the mixed function oxidase (MFO) activity in fish liver microsomes. The results of this study indicate that environmental variables can affect the levels of MFO activity. A better understanding of these effects is needed before these indicators can be used routinely as environmental monitors.