Lipophilic organic compounds in lake sediment and American coot (Fulica americana) tissues, both affected and unaffected by avian vacuolar myelinopathy.

Avian vacuolar myelinopathy (AVM) is a disease of unknown etiology, which has been diagnosed in a variety of birds from surface water reservoirs in the southeastern United States. Pathology suggests a natural or anthropogenic compound may be the cause of this disease. With the goal of identifying the toxicant that causes AVM, we qualitatively analyzed sediments and American coot (Fulica americana) tissues from reservoirs that were affected and unaffected by AVM using high-resolution gas chromatographic low-resolution mass spectrometry. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), octachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, and biogenic and anthropogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (such as retene) were the most abundant compounds in the sediment. Penta- and hexachlorobenzene, oxychlordane, p,p'-DDE, dieldrin, and polychlorinated biphenyls were the most abundant compounds in the avian tissues. None of these compounds were more abundant in the AVM affected sediments and tissues than in the unaffected media. Therefore, it is unlikely that any of these compounds are the cause of this avian disease.