Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Effects of Great Lakes fish consumption on brain PCB pattern, concentration, and progressive-ratio performance

Journal Article · · Environmental Research
This study investigated the effects of consumption of Great Lakes fish on progressive ratio performance, and on the pattern and concentrations of brain polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dichlorodiphenyldichloroethene (DDE), and mirex in the rat. Adult, male Sprague-Dawley rats were fed a 30% diet of either Lake Ontario salmon (LAKE), Pacific Ocean salmon, or lab chow control for 20 or 65 days. Following the treatment regimen, half the rats from each group were sacrificed immediately for gas chromatographic analysis of organochlorine contaminants, and the other half were tested on a multiple fixed-ratio-progressive-ratio reinforcement schedule and then sacrificed for analysis. Consumption of Lake Ontario fish resulted in significantly higher levels of brain PCBs, DDE, and mirex relative to controls, but still well within human exposure ranges. Consumption of Lake Ontario fish for 20 or 65 days produced an average brain PCB concentration of 457 and 934 ng/g fat, respectively. Consumption of laboratory rat chow or Pacific Ocean salmon for 20 or 65 days produced an average brain PCB concentration of 240, 464, and 441 ng/g fat, respectively. Moreover, both LAKE-fed groups showed a much more heavily chlorinated pattern of brain PCBs than all control groups, as evidenced by both significant increases in the most heavily chlorinated PCB congeners and significant increases in the average chlorine biphenyl.
Research Organization:
State Univ. of New York, Oswego, NY (US)
OSTI ID:
20026669
Journal Information:
Environmental Research, Journal Name: Environmental Research Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 82; ISSN ENVRAL; ISSN 0013-9351
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English