Ultrastructural Comparison of Liver Tissues from Field and Laboratory TCDD-Exposed Beach Mice

Quantitative studies were conducted on tissue and organs for beach mice, Peromyscus polionotus, exposed to the toxin 2,3,7,8- tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) in field and laboratory environments. Hepatic tissue from 52 animals was examined using an ultrastructural stereological technique to determine differences in smooth endoplasmic reticulum (SER), rough endoplasmic reticulum (RER) and mitochondria. Organs were examined for differences in weights. Histopathological examinations were also performed on various tissues. To support the studies, chemical analysis of the soil, liver and pelt samples for TCDD content as well as the determination of the TCDD concentration in the alumina gel used in the dusting study was conducted. Fifteen animals were collected from a unique military test site in Northwest Florida where they had been continuously exposed to soil levels of 10 to 710 parts-per-trillion (ppt) TCDD. Twelve other animals from a field control site were exposed 10 times in 28 days to 2.5 parts-per-billion (ppb) TCDD applied as an alumina gel dust to their pellage. All remaining animals were from the same field control site and were not exposed to TCDD in the field or in the laboratory and therefore served as controls. The levels of TCDD in composite liver samples from mice collected in the field varied from 960 ppt for females to 1300 ppt for males, while a composite liver level of TCDD for the laboratory animals was 125 ppt. No significant histopathological lesions were observed. When field animals were compared with laboratory animals, significant differences were noted in certain organ weights and cellular structural components. Some of these differences could possibly be attributed to dissimilarities in field and laboratory environments.

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