Quantitative assessment of melanomacrophage centres (MMCs) in dab Limanda limanda along a pollution transect in the German Bight

This study attempted to demonstrate whether an aspect of non-specd~c ellular immunity could be used as an lnd~cator of f ~ s h health In populatlons of dab Lllnanda l imanda exposed along a pollut~on gradient Replicate samples of dab spleens were ob ta~ned durlng the Bremerhaven Workshop from a senes of stations along a transect in the German B ~ g h t H~stochem~cal techn~ques , to demonstrate the components of the pigmented materials w~th ln melanomacrophage centres (MMCs) indicated varylng amounts of breakdown cellular products (notably haemoslderln) to be present The haemos~derln component was measured In each spleen sec t~on w ~ t h the a ~ d of a computerized lmage analyzer Comparat~ve results showed some ~ n c o n s ~ s t e n c ~ e s in amounts of haemosidenn w ~ t h ~ n MMCs between ~ n d ~ v ~ d u a l fish and repl~cated samples on stations However there were s lgn~f~can t differences (p<O OS) between stations overall, the amounts of haemos~derln belng least at Stns 3 & 9 Although these results may lnd~cate an effect of contaminants no apparent correlat~on w ~ t h d ~ s e a s e prevalences in the dab population sampled could be establ~shed The technique seems promlslng, but some problems are mentioned and discussed