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Donald C. Malins, Ph.D., D.Sc., Pacific Northwest Research Institute and Identification of DNA damage in the liver and gills of native fish can serve to detect exposure to and effects of pollutants found in the environment according to research from the Pacific Northwest Research Institute, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the University of Maryland and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The findings also suggest that these biomarkers can be used to track progress in cleaning up environmental contamination. Researchers analyzed fish from two sites in Washington State. They compared English sole from the Duwamish River, which flows through an industrialized section of Seattle, to the same species taken from Quartermaster Harbor, a relatively clean area in the Puget Sound. A section of the lower Duwamish River was listed as an EPA Superfund Site in 2001. Chemicals contaminating the river bed include polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, mercury and other metals, and phthlates used in making plastics. The river fish had higher levels of ”deleterious alterations” in DNA isolated from their livers and gills than the harbor fish. The river fish also had higher levels of gene expression for the enzyme cytochrome P4501A, which ”signaled changes in the liver associated with the oxidation of organic xenobiotics.” The researchers conclude that these and similar DNA lesions can be used to detect impacts of chemical contaminants on fish populations. And since innate DNA repair processes can reverse previous damage as long as additional insults do not occur, they may be useful in assessing the effectiveness of environmental remediation efforts. Citation: Malins DC, Anderson KM, Stegeman JJ, Jaruga P, Green VM, Gilman NK, Dizdaroglu M. Biomarkers signal contaminant effects on the organs of English sole (Parophrys vetulus) from Puget Sound. Environ Health Perspect. 2006 Jun;114(6):823-9. |
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