FISH AS BIOMARKERS IN IMMUNOTOXICOLOGY

This paper presents an overview on the state of the art in the develop ment and application of biomarkers for immunotoxicology in fish. There are several reasons for developing this field: many fish diseases are related to environmental quality, various environmental pollutants ha ve immunotoxic potential and many fish diseases have an immunological component. As in immunotoxicology in general, this aspect, in fish, ha s received ample attention in the recent past. Much benefit has been o btained from progress in related fields of science, such as fish immun ology and rodent immunotoxicology. Meanwhile there is a broad spectrum of potential biomarkers for immunotoxicology in fish, from which macr ophage parameters seem to be most widely used. The application of othe rs, such as lymphoid cell parameters is still limited, probably due to practical problems such as lack of experience with conduct, validatio n and interpretation. Specific problems include the paucity of backgro und data in the case of epidemiological field studies and the importan t role of other (non-chemical) stress factors in the immune response, and hence the lack of specificity of potential biomarkers.