The Tides They are A-Changin': Fish Models and the New Paradigm in Toxicology

摘要

Recent environmental catastrophes including large scale fish kills have heightened public awareness offish as important indicators of the health of our waterways and as sentinels of environmental degradation. However, for every fish that is found washed ashore, there often are many more individuals that either die undetected or suffer sublethal effects, leading to secondary disease conditions. Chronic diseases in fish, such as the epizootics offish tumors that occurred in the 1960's and 70's, helpedusher in the Clean Water Act of 1977 and the Water Quality Act of 1987. This legislation has the laudable goal of decreasing aquatic pollution and has necessitated increased testing of surface waters and the aquatic organisms within. Veterinary pathologists should and will be involved at all levels. This talk will discuss environmental monitoring of fish, using specific examples ranging from acute toxicity to carcinogenesis and endocrine disruption. Fish are also being utilized in the laboratory in increasing numbers, which allows us to verify results from field monitoring studies as well as to develop unique model systems that can be extrapolated to human health. However, even in this relatively new field for veterinary pathologists, testing modalities are changing rapidly and will require individuals with expertise in phenotyping of larval fish and even fish embryos.