Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to C W Harlan.
Two cases of fatal attacks by large cats are presented. In the first case, a 30-year-old female zoo worker was attacked by a jaguar that had escaped its cage. In the second case, a 2-year-old girl was fatally injured by her father's pet leopard. The pattern of injuries in these cases is nearly identical to those of these cats' prey in the wild.
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A systematic procedure provides one method of assessing xenobiotic-induced abnormalities in fish following environmental exposures. Behavioral, external (or gross), histopathological, and internal organ changes allow determination of the severity of toxicant impact on an endemic population provided a sufficient number of specimens is analyzed. Over the past 15 years, these methods have led to the establishment of causal factors in metal- and metalloid-induced toxicity.
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This report provides morphological and analytical data for a group of green sunfish collected from an area relatively free of metals and a second group of the same species collected from a lake into which selenium had been discharged. Neutron activation data of livers (and kidneys) collected from these fish show an average of about 11 ppm selenium (fresh weight) for both organs; other metals were not detected in the liver (or kidneys) of these fish. Ultrastructural examination of livers from fish of this group showed focal necrosis, areas of granular cytoplasm, fatty infiltration, increased numbers of Kupffer cells, and disorganized liver architecture--compared with those of controls. The presence of massive levels of selenium in the liver and concomitant hepatocyte changes suggests a causal relationship between these phenomena.
Redear sunfish (Lepomis microlophus) were collected from Martin Lake in east Texas. For at least 8 months, 1 year earlier, aqueous selenium-laden effluent from man-made sources was released into this 5,000-acre reservoir (unpublished data). Redear sunfish from a reference lake, 8 km upstream, were collected for comparison to Martin Lake fish. The hepatopancreas (i.e., liver and associated, disseminated exocrine pancrease), mesonephros (i.e., kidney), gonads, heart, spleen, stomach, and gill arches were preserved for histopathological examination using optical and/or transmission electron microscopy. Livers from Martin Lake redear sunfish (which had accumulated approximately 20 ppm selenium in the liver) showed central necrosis, reduced quantities of rough endoplasmic reticulum and glycogen particles, and increased numbers of lysosome-like structures. Kidneys showed proliferative glomerulonephritis, and exocrine pancreas showed marked hypertrophy at the optical level. Ultrastructurally, architectural disorganization, reduced rough endoplasmic reticulum, increased cisternal space, and proliferation of smooth endoplasmic reticulum were evident. The stomach, spleen, gill, heart, and gonads showed no abnormalities.
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