ABSTRACT
This chapter is about the liver as a target organ of toxic chemicals. It is a target organ because of: its large blood supply leading to pronounced toxicant exposure and accumulation; its clearance function involving microvasculature, hepatocytes, possibly phagocytic cells, and intrahepatic biliary system; and its pronounced metabolic capacity, critical for internal homeostasis and for survival of the organism. The chapter provides a short review of the available knowledge on the anatomy and physiology of the piscine liver, and illustrates toxic mechanisms in this organ using studies of reference hepatotoxicants. It reviews model systems for investigations of hepatotoxicity, cellular targets, early, intermediate, and endstage aspects of carcinogenesis as an example of chronic toxicity. Finally, the chapter reviews the formation of a field of fish hepatology which uses integrated structural and biochemical/physiologic approaches to investigate the wealth of responses which are possible in the various aquatic species.
