FLOW CYTOMETRIC DETERMINATION OF GENOTOXIC EFFECTS OF EXPOSURE TO PETROLEUM IN MINK AND SEA OTTERS

Three experiments were conducted to investigate the genotoxic effects of crude oil on mink and sea otters, In the first experiment, the effe cts on mink of chronic exposure to weathered Prudhoe Bay crude oil wer e studied, Female mink were fed a diet that included weathered crude o il for a period of 3 weeks prior to mating, during pregnancy and until weaning. Kits were exposed through lactation and by diet after weanin g until 4 months of age. Kidney and liver tissues of the kits were exa mined using flow cytometry (FCM) and it was found that the genome size was increased in kidney samples from the experimental group compared to the control group. This effect was probably due to some type of DNA amplification and it could have been inherited from the exposed mothe rs or have been a somatic response to oil exposure in the pups, No evi dence of clastogenic effects, as measured by the coefficient of variat ion (CV) of the G(1) peak, was found in kidney or liver tissue. In the second experiment, yearling female mink were exposed either by diet o r externally to crude oil or bunker C fuel oil. Evidence for clastogen ic damage was found in spleen tissue for the exposure groups, but not in kidney tissue. No evidence of increased genome size was observed. I n the third experiment, blood was obtained from wild-caught sea otters in Prince William Sound. The sea otters represented two populations: one from western Prince William Sound that was potentially exposed to oil from the Exxon Valdez oil spill and a reference population from ea stern Prince William Sound that did not receive oil from the spill. Th e spill had occurred 1.5 years prior to obtaining the blood samples. A lthough the mean CVs did not differ between the populations, the expos ed population had a significantly higher variance of CV measurements a nd five out of 15 animals from the exposed population had CVs higher t han the 95% confidence limits of the reference population, It is concl uded that FCM is a sensitive indicator of the clastogenic effects of o il exposure and that haematopoietic tissues and blood are best for det ecting clastogenic damage. Moreover, the observed differences in the g enome size of the kidney cells mere possibly heritable effects, but th is needs further investigation. Lastly, sea otters exposed to spilled oil 1.5 years earlier showed evidence of clastogenic damage in one-thi rd of the individuals sampled.