Physiological effects of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in fish organism

Abstract

The pollution of world ocean is a serious threat to the biodiversity of flora and fauna. One of the most important sources of pollution are oil and oil products – every year more than 1 million tons of oil is spilled into the sea as a result of accidents during oil production or transportation. The teratogenic and carcinogenic effects of such oil components as benzopyrene is well known since the middle of the last century. However, after a large oil spill from “Exxon Valdez” tanker in 1989 it became clear that oil and its components have strong toxic effects in fish organism – and to a large extent these effects are caused by di- and tricyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, in particular phenanthrene. Field research have demonstrated that fish embryo and larvae are the most prone to the effects of oil – and the largest oil spills endanger the populations of important commercial fish species that spawn in this area. This review considers the influence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) on the physiology of various organ systems in fish. Particular attention is paid to the cardiotoxic effects of PAH which were recently discovered and which are potentially not only the main cause of animals’ death upon the spill of PAH into water, but also underlie the malformation of other organs.