Influence of a contaminated fish diet on germline expanded-simple-tandem-repeat mutation frequency in mice.

Herring gulls (Larus argentatus) in polluted areas on the North American Great Lakes were previously shown to have elevated germline mutation frequencies at minisatellite DNA loci. Airborne or dietary contaminants likely caused induced mutations, but the importance of each exposure type was unknown. Follow-up experiments with lab mice determined that air pollution significantly induced germline mutations; however, an evaluation of mutations induced by the diet of herring gulls has not yet been conducted.

The influence of dietary Na on Cu accumulation in juvenile rainbow trout exposed to combined dietary and waterborne Cu in soft water.

Fish inhabiting metal-contaminated environments can take up metals such as Cu via the gills as well as via the gut. Previous research on rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) has indicated that dietary Na can reduce the accumulation of waterborne Cu; however, in hard water, dietary Na does not reduce the accumulation of dietary Cu. In this study, we exposed juvenile rainbow trout in soft water with slightly elevated [Cu] for 28 days to control or high levels of dietary Cu (6 and 580 microg Cu/g food, respectively) at low (1.