title: Liver histopathology in Baltic flounder (Platichthys flesus) as indicator of biological effects of contaminants.
abstract: Results are presented of a study on liver histopathology in Baltic flounder (Platichthys flesus) carried out in 2001 and 2002 in four coastal sampling areas of the Baltic Sea: Kvädöfjärden (Swedish east coast, reference area), Klaipeda-Butinge (Lithuanian coast), Gulf of Gdansk (Polish coast), and Wismar Bay (German coast) within the framework of the EU-funded BEEP project. Liver lesions were diagnosed and categorised using standardised methodologies and, for a spatial and temporal assessment of the prevalence and types of lesions detected, a scoring system was applied, involving the calculation of mean histopathology lesion scores. 83.0% of the 436 female flounder examined (size range: 20-43 cm total length, age range: 2-8 years) were affected by liver lesions, out of which 74.3% were assigned to the category of non-specific, 3.4% to the category of early toxicopathic non-neoplastic, 4.6% to the category of pre-neoplastic and 0.7% to the category of neoplastic lesions. Mean lesions scores were highest in the areas at the Lithuanian and Swedish coast and there is indication of an impact of the age structure of the flounder populations studied, the sampling season as well as of contaminant effects.
authors.affiliation: Federal Research Centre for Fisheries, Institute of Fishery Ecology, Deichstrasse 12, 27472 Cuxhaven, Germany. thomas.lang@ifo.bfa-fisch.de
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lang
authors.forename: Werner
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wosniok
authors.forename: Janina
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Barsiene
authors.forename: Katja
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Broeg
authors.forename: Justyna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kopecka
authors.forename: Jari
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Parkkonen
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D001454:Baltic States; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005432:Flounder; D008099:Liver / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology*; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D012621:Seasons; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000633:toxicity*
chemical_list: D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical