Toxic chemicals in sediments and biota from a creosote-polluted harbor: relationships with hepatic neoplasms and other hepatic lesions in English sole (Parophrys vetulus)

High prevalences of idiopathic hepatic lesions, including neoplasms(e.g., hepatocellular carcinomas, cholangiocellular carcinomas)(27%, 20 of 75 fish) and foci of cellular alteration (putative‘preneoplastic’ lesions) (44%, 33 of 75 fish), werefound in English sole (Parophrys vetulus) exposed to creosote-contaminatedsediments in Eagle Harbor, Puget Sound, WA. Sediments from thecontaminated region of the harbor contained particularly highconcentrations of aromatic hydrocarbons (e.g., benzo[a]pyreneand benz[a]anthracene), and a variety of nitrogen-containingaromatic compounds (e.g., carbazole and acridine). The compositionof the aromatic compounds was characteristic of creosote. Dramaticallylower concentrations of aromatic compounds were found in sedimentsfrom a reference site in which the bottom-dwelling fish examinedwere free of detectable neoplastic or ‘preneoplastic’hepatic lesions. Food organisms in the stomachs of the Englishsole from Eagle Harbor contained substantially higher concentrationsof aromatic hydrocarbons than comparable organisms from thereference site. The concentrations of individual aromatic hydrocarbonsin muscle and liver from the Eagle Harbor fish were low; however,high concentrations of metabolites of aromatic compounds werepresent in the bile. The findings strongly suggest an associationbetween exposure to creosote and the prevalence of hepatic lesions,including neoplasms, in the bottom-dwelling fish, and furthermoresupport the putative role of aromatic hydrocarbons in livercarcinogenesis in fish.