| The Great Lakes are surrounded by heavily industrialized regions. High frequency of hepatocellular neoplasm in fish has been found. This study was undertaken to assess the environmental contamination by analyzing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) metabolites in fish collected from Presque Isle Bay, Lake Erie, Niagara River, New York, and Galveston Bay.;Method development. A method to determine PAH metabolites in fish by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) was developed. Biliary metabolites were recovered by enzymatic and acidic hydrolysis. TMS-ethers of PAH metabolites were analyzed by GC/MS, the derivatization of metabolites with bis(trimethylsilylfluoro)acetamide enhanced GC/MS.;Time-course response of PAH metabolites in fish. Antarctic fish (Notothenial gibberifrons) administered 100 ;Field study. Elevated concentrations of PAH metabolites correlated positively with fish neoplasm. No correlation was found between PAH concentrations in local sediments and the concentration of PAH metabolites in fish, or PAH concentrations in local sediments and fish neoplasm.;The extremely high levels of PAH metabolites detected in bullheads collected from Niagara River may reflect point sources of PAH contamination in the heavily industralized area, and may be correlated with the high incidence of fish neoplasms.;PAH metabolites have been identified in all three species of fish collected near the Apex barge oil spill in Galveston Bay. The total PAH metabolite concentrations were high in fish collected one week after the spill and decreased significantly four and sixteen weeks after the spill. This finding, and similar TIC patterns of PAH metabolites and PAH in Apex oil, suggests that the fish were exposed to the Apex oil. |
