Perfluorooctanoic Acid Exposure Assessment on Common Carp Liver through Image and Ultrastructural Investigation

Maurizio Manera, Bahram Sayyaf Dezfuli, Giuseppe Castaldelli, Joseph A. DePasquale, Elisa Anna Fano, Camillo Martino and Luisa Giari
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Maurizio Manera: Faculty of Biosciences, Food and Environmental Technologies, University of Teramo, St. R. Balzarini 1, 64100 Teramo, Italy
Bahram Sayyaf Dezfuli: Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Ferrara, St. Borsari 46, 44121 Ferrara, Italy
Giuseppe Castaldelli: Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Ferrara, St. Borsari 46, 44121 Ferrara, Italy
Joseph A. DePasquale: Morphogenyx Inc., PO Box 717, East Northport, NY 11731, USA
Elisa Anna Fano: Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Ferrara, St. Borsari 46, 44121 Ferrara, Italy
Camillo Martino: Department of Veterinary, University of Perugia, St. San Costanzo 4, 06126 Perugia, Italy
Luisa Giari: Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Ferrara, St. Borsari 46, 44121 Ferrara, Italy

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 24, 1-15

Abstract: Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) poses particular concern as an emerging pollutant in both surface and ground waters. Fish, as a natural inhabitant of these waters and being highly representative of vertebrates, represents an ideal animal model to assess the toxic effects of PFOA. Hereby, liver microscopic texture was comparatively evaluated in individuals of common carp subchronically exposed to PFOA using grayscale differential box counting, a fractal analysis method. Furthermore, liver cytoplasmic glycogen areas and ultrastructure were also evaluated and compared to the image analysis findings. Redundancy Analysis was performed to assess, in summary, how much the variation of fractal dimension and lacunarity was explained by the concentration of PFOA in liver, the mass of liver and the number of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA)-immunoreactive nuclei. Treatment group ordination was better determined by fractal dimension than lacunarity. Interestingly, a significant complexity increase was associated with the modification of liver microscopic texture due to PFOA exposure. This complexity increase was related to “cloudy swelling”, possibly representing a primarily adaptive strategy against PFOA challenge, rather than a slight, reversible form of degeneration as traditionally proposed. The occurrence of endoplasmic reticulum stress, unfolded protein reaction and hormetic response was proposed and discussed.

Keywords: grayscale differential box counting; fractal analysis; complexity; cloudy swelling; endoplasmic reticulum stress; hormesis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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