title: In vivo studies on toxin accumulation in liver and ultrastructural changes of hepatocytes of the phytoplanktivorous bighead carp i.p.-injected with extracted microcystins.
abstract: Phytoplanktivorous bighead carp were injected i.p. with extracted microcystins (mainly MC-RR and -LR) at two doses, 200 and 500 MC-LReq.microg kg(-1) bw, and the changes in extractable MCs in liver and in the ultrastructure of hepatocytes were studied at 1, 3, 12, 24 and 48 h after injection. Quantitative and qualitative determinations of MCs in the liver were conducted by HPLC and LC-MS, respectively. MC concentration in the liver reached the maxima at 12h (2.89 microg MCsg(-1) dry weight at the lower dose) or at 3h (5.43 microg MCsg(-1) dry weight at the higher dose) post-injection, followed by sharp declines afterwards, whereas the ultrastructural changes of hepatocytes in both dose groups suggest progressive increases in severity toward the directions of apoptosis and necrosis from 1 to 24h, respectively. There were two new findings in fish: widening of intercellular spaces was among the early ultrastructural changes induced by MCs and ultrastructural recovery of hepatocytes was evident at 48 h post-injection in both dose groups. Both the present and previous studies suggest that with in vivo or in vitro exposure to microcystins, hepatocyte damage in fish tends to proceed toward the direction of apoptosis at lower MC concentrations but toward the direction of necrosis at high MC concentrations. The temporal dynamics of MCs in the liver suggest that bighead carp may have a mechanism to degrade or bind MC-LR actively after it enters the blood system.
authors.affiliation: Donghu Experimental Station of Lake Ecosystems, State Key Laboratory for Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology of China, Institute of Hydrobiology, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002347:Carps / Q000502:physiology*; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D004721:Endoplasmic Reticulum / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D022781:Hepatocytes / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D007274:Injections, Intraperitoneal; D008099:Liver / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D052998:Microcystins; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D008930:Mitochondria, Liver / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D010456:Peptides, Cyclic / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000493:pharmacokinetics* / Q000633:toxicity*; D010839:Phytoplankton / Q000737:chemistry; D021241:Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization
chemical_list: D052998:Microcystins; D010456:Peptides, Cyclic; C078588:microcystin