How Small Fish Help Predict Human Risk from Non-Dioxin like PCBs

*********************************
There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
*********************************

Event Details
  • Date/Time:
    • Tuesday September 9, 2014
      10:00 am - 11:30 am
  • Location: CDC, Chamblee 106 1B, 4770 Buford Highway NE; Atlanta, GA 30341
  • Phone:
  • URL:
  • Email:
  • Fee(s):
    N/A
  • Extras:
Contact

Olivia Harris at 770-488-0597 or OHarris@cdc.gov

*Local partners outside CDC/ATSDR must have security clearence (1 week notice for US citizens; 3 weeks for non-citizens) to attend in person. You may contact OHarris@cdc.gov for security clearance.

Summaries

Summary Sentence: How Small Fish Help Predict Human Risk from Non-Dioxin like PCBs

Full Summary: The NIEHS Superfund Research Program & NCEH/ATSDR Office of Science present
How Small Fish Help Predict Human Risk from Non-Dioxin like PCBs
John Stegeman, PhD
Boston University Superfund Research Center & Director, Center for Oceans and Human Health Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Animal models have long been used to identify and understand how chemicals contribute to disease processes. Over the past 15 years, efforts involving small fish models have focused most on the zebrafish (eol.org/pages/204011/overview), but there is renewed interest in other species including the estuarine killifish Fundulus heteroclitis (eol.org/pages/1157172/overview). Fish models are helping to decipher the molecular mechanisms by which dioxins and dioxin-like chemicals including non-ortho polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
cause toxicity, especially during development, and to uncover mechanisms of resistance to that toxicity. But what about the non-dioxin-like (NDL) ortho-PCBs? Our understanding of the toxicity and the mechanisms by which these chemicals are toxic is still fragmentary. Do ortho-PCBs have similar effects in mammals and fish? Can small fish provide insights into such mechanisms, as they have for the dioxin-like compounds? Our gene
expression studies with ortho-PCBs in zebrafish are highlighting pathways of response to the NDL PCBs, including induction of P450s via the pregnane X receptor (PXR), as yet a poorly understood participant in NDL-chemical effects in fish. Our studies also point to novel molecular targets that may participate in causing the neurobehavioral effects of NDL PCBs. In the killifish, our results suggest that multigenerational exposure to very
high levels of NDL PCBs causes adaptation by altering the function of calcium channels. This raises questions about whether structurally similar persistent environmental chemicals may cause similar effects. We should soon better understand the similarities and differences involved in different species’ responses to NDL compounds.*Local partners outside CDC/ATSDR who wish to attend in person may contact OHarris@cdc.gov for security clearance (1 week notice for US citizens; 3 weeks for non-citizens).

John Stegeman, PhD

Additional Information

In Campus Calendar
No
Groups

School of Biological Sciences

Invited Audience
Undergraduate students, Faculty/Staff, Public, Graduate students
Categories
Seminar/Lecture/Colloquium
Keywords
CDC, John Stegeman, School of Biology
Status
  • Created By: Jasmine Martin
  • Workflow Status: Published
  • Created On: Aug 15, 2014 - 9:09am
  • Last Updated: Apr 13, 2017 - 5:22pm