Dietary exposure of mink (Mustela vison) to fish from the upper Hudson River, New York, USA: effects on organ mass and pathology.

The authors evaluated effects of feeding ranch mink (Mustela vison) diets containing polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB)-contaminated fish from the upper Hudson River (New York, USA) on adult and offspring organ mass and pathology. Diets contained 2.5 to 20% Hudson River fish, providing 0.72 to 6.1 µg ΣPCBs/g feed (4.8-38 pg toxic equivalents [TEQWHO 2005 ]/g feed). Absolute thyroid and adrenal gland masses were increased in adult females and 31-week-old juveniles, respectively, and absolute liver and heart masses were decreased in six-week-old kits exposed to dietary PCBs. Dietary concentrations of 0.72 µg ΣPCBs/g feed (4.8 pg TEQWHO 2005 /g feed) and greater induced mandibular and maxillary squamous epithelial proliferation in adult animals. The dietary concentration of ΣPCBs predicted to result in 20% incidence of the jaw lesion (EC20) was 2.3 µg ΣPCBs/g feed (15 pg TEQWHO 2005 /g feed), and the hepatic concentration was 2.8 µg ΣPCBs/g liver (89 pg TEQWHO 2005 /g liver). The EC20 values were greater than the dietary and hepatic concentrations predicted to result in a 20% increase in kit mortality (LC20) at six weeks of age (0.34 µg ΣPCBs/g feed or 2.6 pg TEQWHO 2005 /g feed and 0.80 µg ΣPCBs/g liver or 13 pg TEQWHO 2005 /g liver). However, the EC20 values reflect exposure of adults to PCBs for approximately six months, and the LC20 values reflect exposure of offspring from conception onward.