Toxicity of ingested crude petroleum oil to marine birds: pathology and pathogenesis

Thesis/Dissertation · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1984

OSTI ID:6263752

Leighton, F A

A series of experiments was carried out to identify toxic effects of ingested Prudhoe Bay crude oil in nestling herring gulls (Larus argentatus) and Atlantic puffins (Fratercula arctica). Wild-caught birds were brought to the laboratory, maintained on a marine diet and given oral doses of oil. Initial results identified anemia as a toxic effect of oil ingestion and subsequent experiments focussed on the erythron as a target tissue. Hemolytic anemia with Heinz bodies in red blood cells ocurred in gulls and puffins that ingested greater than or equal to 10 ml oil per kg per day for 4-5 days. Anemia developed precipitously as a hemolytic crisis. Structural lesions in red cells included Heinz body formation, anisocytosis, severe distortions of cell shape, plasma membrane crenulation, mineralization of mitochondria, formation of abnormal cytoplasmic vesicles, and both abnormally high and abnormally low cytoplasmic density. These data permitted correlative evaluation of ultrastructural and biochemical changes in red cells experiencing oxidant stress due to oil ingestion. Several other lesions occurred on both oil-dosed and control birds but were significantly more prevalent in the former. These lesions were focal adrenal necrosis, depletion of adrenal lipid, depletion of lymphocytes in thymus and bursa of Fabricius, and virus infection of the bursa of Fabricius. These latter lesions suggested immunosuppression in oil-dosed birds. In a pilot study, oral doses of disulfiram prevented the usual induction of hepatic mixed-function oxidases caused by ingestion of oil by gulls, and also prevented development of Heinz bodies and of increased GSH in red cells of gulls given large oral doses of oil.

• OSTI ID: 6263752
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020900 -- Petroleum-- Environmental Aspects
560305* -- Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology-- Vertebrates-- (-1987)
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
ABSORPTION
ANEMIAS
ANIMALS
BIOLOGICAL MATERIALS
BIRDS
BLOOD
BLOOD CELLS
BODY FLUIDS
CORRELATIONS
DISEASES
ENERGY SOURCES
ERYTHROCYTES
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
HEMIC DISEASES
HEMOLYSIS
INTESTINAL ABSORPTION
LYSIS
MATERIALS
MORPHOLOGICAL CHANGES
PATHOLOGICAL CHANGES
PETROLEUM
SYMPTOMS
TOXICITY
ULTRASTRUCTURAL CHANGES
UPTAKE
VERTEBRATES