Inmunohistochemistry study of cytochrome p450 in livers of stranded cetaceans

Abstract

Marine pollution is a world wide problem of the high industrial, agriculture and costal urbanism and is directly linked to human activities on the coastal and marine areas. This problem is directly affecting marine mammals all over the world and requires more long term research and funding investment from both scientists and administrators in order to get better conclusions about the impact of pollutants on the marine animal health and mitigation. The cytochrome P450 is an enzyme system which participates in phase I of biotransformation process of lipopfilic xenobiotics like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) which are natural constituents of oil and planar halogenated aromatic hydrocarbons (PHAHs) such as non-ortho polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) used in transformers and other electrical equipment. The cytochrome P450 (CYP1A1) has been identified in some species of cetaceans including beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas), minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) and bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), and in different tissues such as liver, blubber or vascular endothelial cells in multiple organs. In the present study, fixed liver samples from stranded cetaceans will be used to demonstrate immunohistochemically the expression of CYP1A1 using a monoclonal antibody against cytochrome P4501A. The results of this investigation will be presented together with a corresponding histopathological study of the liver and with the pathological details of each animal included in this study.