title: Potency of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) for induction of ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD) activity in hepatocyte cultures from chicken, Pekin duck, and greater scaup.
abstract: The potency of tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) and 18 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) for induction of ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD) activity was assessed in primary hepatocyte cultures prepared from chicken (Gallus domesticus), Pekin duck (Anas platyrhynchos domesticus), and greater scaup (Aythya marila). TCDD and 8 of the PAHs induced EROD activity in a concentration-dependent manner. Seven of these were previously shown to be acutely toxic to avian embryos, while the 10 congeners that did not produce an EROD response caused limited mortality. The rank order potency of the EROD-active congeners in all three species was as follows: TCDD>dibenz[ah]anthracene>benzo[k]fluoranthene>indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene>benzo[a]pyrene>chrysene≈benz[a]anthracene≈benz[ghi]perylene>benzo[b]naphtho[2,3-d]thiophene. Chicken hepatoctyes were more sensitive than duck hepatocytes to EROD induction by all test compounds, but the gap in species sensitivity was 100-fold for TCDD, and generally ≤10-fold for PAHs. This study is the first to use in vitro methods to rank the AHR-mediated potency of PAHs in birds. These data may be useful for assessing risks associated with exposure to PAHs in the environment.
authors.affiliation: §Department of Natural Resource Sciences, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H9X 3 V9, Canada.
authors.forename: Jessica A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Head
authors.affiliation: ‡Environment Canada, National Wildlife Research Centre, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0H3, Canada.
authors.forename: Richard W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Jeffery
authors.affiliation: ‡Environment Canada, National Wildlife Research Centre, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0H3, Canada.
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Farmahin
authors.affiliation: †Centre for Advanced Research in Environmental Genomics, Department of Biology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, Canada.|‡Environment Canada, National Wildlife Research Centre, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0H3, Canada.
authors.forename: Sean W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Kennedy
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D046090:Anseriformes / Q000378:metabolism*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002645:Chickens / Q000378:metabolism*; D019363:Cytochrome P-450 CYP1A1 / Q000378:metabolism*; D004372:Ducks / Q000378:metabolism*; D004790:Enzyme Induction / Q000187:drug effects; D022781:Hepatocytes / Q000187:drug effects / Q000201:enzymology*; D000072317:Polychlorinated Dibenzodioxins / Q000633:toxicity; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons / Q000633:toxicity*
chemical_list: D000072317:Polychlorinated Dibenzodioxins; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons; D019363:Cytochrome P-450 CYP1A1