THE EFFECTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONTAMINANTS ON THE IMMUNE FUNCTIONS OF MARINE FLATFISH
Given the widespread concern that chemical contaminants may be associated with infectious disease outbreaks in marine fish populations, work has been undertaken with the aim of developing a suite of non-specific and specific assays of marine fish immune function and the application of these techniqu...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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University of Plymouth
1996
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/2780 https://doi.org/10.24382/4240 |
| Summary: | Given the widespread concern that chemical contaminants may be associated with infectious disease outbreaks in marine fish populations, work has been undertaken with the aim of developing a suite of non-specific and specific assays of marine fish immune function and the application of these techniques in a variety of field and laboratory investigations. Most of the work focused on dab, Limanda limanda (L.) in view of the importance of this species in several North Sea fish disease monitoring programmes, and was also supplemented with investigations of specific immune function in turbot, Scopthalmus maximus (L.). Initial field studies examined non-specific immune function in terms of lymphoid organ morphology in dab sampled along a North Sea gradient of chemical contamination during the March 1990 ICES/IOC Bremerhaven workshop. Significant differences were observed in the kidney and spleen cell populations from dab, and these observations were considered in view of the various other physico-chemical and biological results generated during the Bremerhaven workshop. Following the valuable experience gained of the practical aspects of the field monitoring approach, laboratory investigations were initiated with the aim of developing a suite of immune function assays for deployment in either laboratory or field studies of marine fish health. Assays for non-specific immune functions were considered, including serum protein and lysozyme levels, methods of phagocyte collection, phagocyte chemiluminescence, calorimetric detection of individual reactive oxygen species and in vitro cell migration assays. Additional field work was undertaken, with the monitoring of serum total protein levels and lysozyme activity in dab sampled from Lyme Bay, UK This study provided evidence of a marked seasonal variation in non-specific immune function, which appeared to be associated with environmental factors (e.g. water temperature) and the reproductive cycle. Selected non-specific assays were applied to dab and turbot exposed under ... |
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