EFFECTS OF PRUDHOE BAY CRUDE-OIL ON HATCHING SUCCESS AND ASSOCIATED CHANGES IN PIPPING MUSCLES IN EMBRYOS OF DOMESTIC CHICKENS (GALLUS-GALLUS)

Fertile white leghorn chicken eggs were exposed to 0, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8 or 16 mu l of Prudhoe Bay Crude oil (PBCO) on day 9 of incubation. The e ffects of oil on pipping and hatching success, body weight gain after hatching, serum creatine kinase levels, and pathological changes in or gan systems were assessed in embryos that had survived acute toxic eff ects and were alive on day 18 of incubation. Exposure to oil greatly r educed pipping and hatching success. Severe edema and hemorrhage in th e pipping muscle, multifocal subcapsular hepatic necrosis, marked depl etion of lymphocytes in the bursa of Fabricius with infiltration by he terophils, and occasional dorso-caudal subcutaneous edema were observe d in treated embryos. Pipping muscles were heavier in oil-exposed embr yos. Embryos exposed to 4 mu l of PBCO had significantly reduced gain in body weight post-hatching. Serum creatine kinase levels were signif icantly elevated in the oil-exposed embryos only at the time of hatchi ng. There was no evidence that exposure to oil caused degenerative cha nges in pipping muscle cells.