ABSTRACT
The Pollutant Responses in Marine Animals (PRIMA) program incorporated some of these and also introduced several other indexes as it was felt that an integrated multiparameter approach would yield more useful diagnostic and predictive information. In the PRIMA program, representative organic chemicals of the first two types were evaluated and compared. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) are nearly ubiquitous trace components in the marine environment. The persistence and toxicity of pesticidal and industrial polychloroaromatic hydrocarbons in the marine environment have been extensively documented. Mixed function oxidase activity in fish can be induced by exposure of the animals to some chlorinated hydrocarbons or PAH. Lipophilic organic pollutants produce in marine animals a variety of focal or generalized lesions, many of which can be detected and characterized by histopathological and histochemical analysis at the light or electron microscope level. Sensitive biochemical and histological early-warning indexes of pollutant-induced damage were evaluated in marine animals in integrated laboratory and field studies.
