Quantitative interlake comparison of thyroid pathology in Great Lakes coho (Oncorhynchus kisutch) and chinook (Oncorhynchus tschawytscha) salmon

Journal Article · Mon Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1981 · Cancer Res.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5734268

Moccia, R D; Leatherland, J F; Sonstegard, R A

Coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) and chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) from Lakes Ontario, Michigan, Erie, or Huron were found to suffer epizootics of thyroid hyperplasia and goiters which appeared to have an environmental etiology. There were 13-fold differences in goiter prevalence within the Great Lakes, and the differences in goiter frequency were correlated with the degree of thyroid hyperplasia. A means of assessing the degree of thyroid hyperplasia (thyroid index) is described, and the derived index was used to facilitate statistical interlake and interspecies comparisons. Despite the hyperplastic (or goitered) condition in all prespawning or spawning Great Lakes salmon, serum thyroid hormone levels were generally higher than in prespawning coho salmon from the Fraser River, British Columbia, indicating that the Great Lakes fish were not necessarily hypothyroid. The hyperplastic lesions appear to undergo progressive changes: (a) large follicles, partly colloid depleted, surrounded by cuboidal epithelial cells; (b) small follicles, largely colloid depleted, surrounded by columnar epithelial cells (in this form, the follicles commonly assume a trabeculate arrangement); (c) ''microfollicles'' with greatly enlarged columnar epithelial cells encompassing very small follicles; (d) apparently afollicular lesions with little or no colloid in evidence. There was some evidence of benign invasiveness, although the lesions generally resembled simple hyperplastic parenchymatous goiters seen in humans.

• OSTI ID: 5734268
• Journal Information: Cancer Res.; (United States), Journal Name: Cancer Res.; (United States) Vol. 41:6; ISSN CNREA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

550100 -- Behavioral Biology
550900* -- Pathology
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
ANIMALS
AQUATIC ORGANISMS
BODY
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
DISEASES
ENDOCRINE DISEASES
ENDOCRINE GLANDS
ENVIRONMENT
ETIOLOGY
FISHES
GLANDS
GOITER
GREAT LAKES
LAKES
MORPHOLOGICAL CHANGES
ORGANS
PATHOLOGICAL CHANGES
PATHOLOGY
SALMON
SENSITIVITY
SURFACE WATERS
THYROID
VERTEBRATES