Faculty of Biosciences, Food and Environmental Technologies, University of Teramo, St. R. Balzarini 1, 64100 Teramo, Italy.
Department of Environmental and Prevention Sciences, University of Ferrara, St. Borsari 46, 44121 Ferrara, Italy.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Jul 25;19(15):9049. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19159049.
Carp kidney is comprised of nephrons, hemopoietic tissue, and also hormonally-active thyroid follicles. Given this anatomical trait, it has been used to assess the thyroid disrupting potential of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a widespread and feared per- poly-fluoroalkyl substance and a persistent organic pollutant capable of interfering with the endocrine system in animals and humans. The occurrence and morphology of thyroid follicles in kidneys of carp experimentally exposed to 200 ng L or 2 mg L waterborne PFOA for 56 days were studied. The abundance of thyroid follicles was significantly higher and vesiculation increased in exposed fish as compared to controls. The number of vesiculated follicles/total number of follicles was positively correlated with PFOA blood concentration in fish exposed to the highest dose (2 mg L). The structure and ultrastructure of thyroid follicles were affected by PFOA also at the lower, environmentally relevant, concentration (200 ng L). Increased cellular projections, enhanced colloid endocytosis, rough endoplasmic reticulum enlargement and fragmentation and cytoplasm vacuolation were the main features displayed by PFOA-exposed carp. These results show that PFOA affects the occurrence and status of follicles and suggest the utility of fish kidney as a multipurpose biomarker organ in environmental pathology research, according to the One Health approach.
鲤鱼肾脏由肾单位、造血组织和具有激素活性的甲状腺滤泡组成。鉴于这种解剖学特征，它已被用于评估全氟辛烷磺酸（PFOA）的甲状腺干扰潜力，PFOA 是一种广泛存在且令人担忧的多氟烷基物质，也是一种持久性有机污染物，能够干扰动物和人类的内分泌系统。本研究探讨了鲤鱼在实验条件下暴露于 200ng/L 或 2mg/L 水基 PFOA 56 天后，肾脏中甲状腺滤泡的发生和形态。与对照组相比，暴露于 PFOA 的鱼的甲状腺滤泡数量明显增加，滤泡泡状化增加。暴露于高剂量（2mg/L）PFOA 的鱼中，泡状化滤泡数/滤泡总数与 PFOA 血液浓度呈正相关。甲状腺滤泡的结构和超微结构也受到低浓度（200ng/L）环境相关浓度 PFOA 的影响。暴露于 PFOA 的鲤鱼的主要特征是细胞突起增加、胶体内吞作用增强、粗面内质网增大和碎片化以及细胞质空泡化。这些结果表明，PFOA 会影响滤泡的发生和状态，并根据“同一健康”方法表明鲤鱼肾脏作为环境病理学研究中多用途生物标志物器官的效用。
