PH11 Global Perspectives on Soil Ecotoxicology
Exhibit Hall
8:00 AM - Thursday
(PH143) Ventricular wall thinning and external heart deformities in passerine birds exposed to environmental mixtures of PCBs during development.
Millsap, D1, Wakhungu, P2, Yeager, R3, Heise, S4, DeWitt, J5, Sparks, D6, Henshel, D7, 1 Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, US2 Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, US3 Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, US4 Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, US5 University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, US6 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bloomington, Indiana, US7 Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, US
ABSTRACT- The heart is susceptible to dioxin and dioxin-like chemical exposure. Previous studies have demonstrated that avian species are sensitive to the cardiac teratogenicity of these compounds. Necropsy-observable cardiac deformities in hearts were evaluated from nestling passerine birds (bluebirds, BB; Carolina chickadees, CC; house wrens, HW; red-winged black birds, RW; and tree swallows, TS) environmentally exposed in ovo and post-hatch to mixtures of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). After fixation and necropsy, hearts were assessed for gross external deformities and measured (ventricular width, length, and depth). Observed deformities included pointed, rounded, or flattened tips, center rolls, macro- and micro-surface roughness, ventricular indentations, ventricular notches, visibly thin ventricular walls, and overall shape deformities. The heart was then sectioned beginning at the apical tip just below the atria, and the ventricular wall of the right and left ventricle was measured. There was a positive correlation between observable shape/surface deformities and the ventricular wall measurements and PCB concentration. These results indicate that developmental PCB exposure may induce a reduction in ventricular wall thickness which is correlated with external heart surface and shape deformities.
Key words: pcbs, passerine, teq's, heart development