Comparative Immunotoxicology - A New Direction

Abstract

Siwicki A. K., M. Studnicka, M. Morand, F. Pozet, E. Terech-Majewska: Comparative lmmmunoroxicology a New Direction. Acta vet. Bmo 1998,67: 295-301. Increasing concentrations of xenobiotics in the environment, food and water supplies has direct or non-direct effects on the immunocompetent cell activity, cellular and humoral defence mechanisms and protection from diseases in animals and human. At this moment we must develop comparative aspects of immunotoxicology, justifying the wse of invenebrates, amphibians and especially fish and reptiles, as models. The defence mechanism indices have been used in various laboratory and field experiments to analyze the influence of xenobiotics on the defence mechanisms and disease resistance of mammals, birds, amphibians and fish. Many of the standard immunological techniques have been modified for optimal results. In this paper we present the basic immunological techniques for study of the effects of xenobiotics on the cellular and humoral defence mechanisms in fish. Xenobiotics,fish, defence mechanisms Understanding the human and animal health risk associated with environmental exposures involves defining the cascades of events between exposure to an environmental agent and the resulting effects on health. To cause health impairment, a pollutant must be absorbed into the body and result in biological change. For most environmental pollutants, little is known about. the flow of events between exposure and health effect. Biological markers are powerful tools that can be used to address many different issues confronting environmental health scientists. Effects of markers are indicators of biological responses. They provide information concerning the likely health outcomes associated with different target doses of environmental pollutants or their metabolites. Overall, biological markers offer the possibility of using human data to make health risk assessment more meaningful, realistic and host-effective. Risk assessment attempts to determine the consequence of toxicant exposure at the human population level. Biomarkers are frequently used to assess the responses and effects of toxicants on laboratory animals. Therefore, there is a need to extrapolate from animal data to human health effects, not only because most of the uncertainties associated with human epidemiological studies. The immune and host defences are highly conserved across species such that immunocompetent cells and some products of the immune system in humans, mice, rats and also in teleost fish are similar. Also, in instances where controlled human studies have been possible, results of immune function studies have been accurate predictors of effects in humans (H u g get t et al. 1989). Increasing concentrations of xenobiotics in the environment, industry, food and water Address for correspondence: A. K. Siwicki Department of Fish Pathology and Immunology IFI. 05-500 Piaseczno. Poland Phone: +-18 ~~ 756 2490 Fax: +48227562490 E-mail: irs@warman.com.pl