Impaired cellular immune response in rats exposed perinatally to Baltic Sea herring oil or 2,3,7,8-TCDD

While the immunotoxicity of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) has been well established, the effects of complex environmental mixtures of polyhalogenated aromatic hydrocarbons (PHAHs) are poorly understood. Many PHAHs, including the polychlorinated-biphenyls (PCBs), -dibenzofurans (PCDFs), and dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), possess 'dioxin-like' activities, and accumulate in the aquatic food chain. Organisms occupying high trophic levels may therefore be exposed to concentrations which may present an immunotoxic risk. In this study, pregnant PVG rats were administered a daily oral dose of 1 ml of the following during pregnancy and lactation: (1) oil extracted from herring caught in the relatively uncontaminated Atlantic Ocean; (2) oil extracted from herring caught in the contaminated Baltic Sea; or (3) the Atlantic herring oil extract spiked with 2,3,7,8-TCDD. The daily intakes of aryl hydrocarbon (Ah)-receptor dependent toxic equivalents (TEQ) for mothers were 0.3 in the Atlantic group, 2.1 in the Baltic group, and 134 ng/kg body wt. in the 2,3,7,8-TCDD positive control group. Immune function and host resistance to rat cytomegalovirus (RCMV) we