title: In Vitro Exposure of Harbor Seal Immune Cells to Aroclor 1260 Alters Phocine Distemper Virus Replication.
abstract: In the last 30 years, several large-scale marine mammal mortality events have occurred, often in close association with highly polluted regions, leading to suspicions that contaminant-induced immunosuppression contributed to these epizootics. Some of these recent events also identified morbillivirus as a cause of or contributor to death. The role of contaminant exposures regarding morbillivirus mortality is still unclear. The results of this study aimed to address the potential for a mixture of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), specifically Aroclor 1260, to alter harbor seal T-lymphocyte proliferation and to assess if exposure resulted in increased likelihood of phocine distemper virus (PDV USA 2006) to infect susceptible seals in an in vitro system. Exposure of peripheral blood mononuclear cells to Aroclor 1260 did not significantly alter lymphocyte proliferation (1, 5, 10, and 20 ppm). However, using reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), lymphocytes exposed to 20 ppm Aroclor 1260 exhibited a significant decrease in PDV replication at day 7 and a significant increase at day 11 compared with unexposed control cells. Similar and significant differences were apparent on exposure to Aroclor 1260 in monocytes and supernatant. The results here indicate that in harbor seals, Aroclor 1260 exposure results in a decrease in virus early during infection and an increase during late infection. The consequences of this contaminant-induced infection pattern in a highly susceptible host could result in a greater potential for systemic infection with greater viral load, which could explain the correlative findings seen in wild populations exposed to a range of persistent contaminants that suffer from morbillivirus epizootics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathobiology and Veterinary Science, University of Connecticut, 61 North Eagleville Rd., Storrs, CT, 06268, USA. andreab@whoi.edu.|Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 266 Woods Hole, Rd. #MS 50, Woods Hole, MA, 02543, USA. andreab@whoi.edu.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bogomolni
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathobiology and Veterinary Science, University of Connecticut, 61 North Eagleville Rd., Storrs, CT, 06268, USA.
authors.forename: Salvatore
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Frasca
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathobiology and Veterinary Science, University of Connecticut, 61 North Eagleville Rd., Storrs, CT, 06268, USA.
authors.forename: Milton
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Levin
authors.affiliation: Pacific Marine Mammal Center, 20612 Laguna Canyon Rd, Laguna Beach, CA, 92651, USA.
authors.forename: Keith
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Matassa
authors.affiliation: Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Central and Arctic Region, 501 University Crescent, Winnipeg, MB, R3T 2N6, Canada.
authors.forename: Ole
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Nielsen
authors.affiliation: National Marine Fisheries Service, Northeast Fisheries Science Center, 166 Woods Hole Rd., Woods Hole, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Gordon
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Waring
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathobiology and Veterinary Science, University of Connecticut, 61 North Eagleville Rd., Storrs, CT, 06268, USA.|Connecticut Sea Grant College Program, 1080 Shennecossett Road, Groton, CT, 06340, USA.
authors.forename: Sylvain
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: De Guise
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001140:Aroclors / Q000633:toxicity*; D018104:Distemper Virus, Phocine / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear; D046049:Phoca; D014779:Virus Replication / Q000187:drug effects*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000633:toxicity*
chemical_list: D001140:Aroclors; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; C026987:aroclor 1260