Polychlorinated biphenyls industrial exposure

In one of the founding studies in immunotoxicology, Friend and Trainer [77] demonstrated that exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) increased mortality of mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) ducklings challenged with duck hepatitis virus. Since then the field of avian immunotoxicology has expanded to show that both the structure and function of the avian immune system often is affected by a diverse array of environmental contaminants, including heavy metals, pesticides, petroleum hydrocarbons, and organic industrial chemicals. Wild birds have proven to be excellent sentinel species for assess-... 

Environmental chemicals and pollutants are also capable of inducing P450 enzymes. As previously noted, exposure to benzo[a]pyrene and other polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are present in tobacco smoke, charcoal-broiled meat, and other organic pyrolysis products, is known to induce CYP1A enzymes and to alter the rates of drug metabolism. Other environmental chemicals known to induce specific P450s include the polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which were once used widely in industry as insulating materials and plasticizers, and 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (dioxin, TCDD), a trace byproduct of the chemical synthesis of the defoliant 2,4,5-T (see Chapter 56). 

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