A Publication of the UC Toxic Substances Research & Teaching Program
Winter/Spring 1998
IN THIS ISSUE
- Non-Lethal Biomarkers of Toxicity
- Risk Assessment and Watershed Management
- MTBE Workshop Review
- Air Quality Workshop April 1
TSR&TP Researchers Discover Non-lethal Biomarkers of Toxicity
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Marti Wolfe became interested in toxicology while working in the semiconductor industry during the time when "there was a lot of attention being paid to both the toxicity of the chemicals being used in manufacturing and their impacts on workers, and also the environmental impacts of what went down the drain," says Wolfe. When her managers said "You've got a biology degree, tell us about this toxic stuff", she took a course in toxicology. She enjoyed it so much that she decided to go back to school, and finished her doctorate in 1992. |
| Marti Wolfe, Ph.D. |
After receiving her Ph.D., she was offered a postdoc position at the EPA laboratory in Corvallis, Oregon, to field test a model's predictions and compare them with measurements of mercury in terrestrial animals that are exposed through the aquatic food chain. Her field work took her to Clear Lake in California where she met researchers from UC Davis studying the effects of methylmercury on wildlife. Halfway through her study at Clear Lake, the wildlife toxicology section of the EPA lab closed due to restructuring, but Wolfe was able to negotiate an independent contract with the EPA to finish the project. After her EPA project, Wolfe did various consulting jobs, one of which spawned the idea that led to a whole new approach in wildlife toxicology.
While she was consulting in Northern Alberta with researchers from Simon Frasier University, Wolfe got the idea of sampling bile metabolites to measure polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) exposure in birds. They were studying the impact organic compounds and heavy metals have on duckling growth and general health by putting them in floating cages in marshes that collected runoff from natural tar sands deposits. Wolfe explains, "While we were sitting there getting the bile out of these ducks which had been sacrificed, we said wouldn't it be great if we had a veterinarian to do this on living ducks and recover them and then we would have multiple samples at multiple time points. We could track the fate of this compound as it's being handled by the exposed animal, and we could equate it to some other measure, like EROD induction."
In the summer of 1992, Wolfe met UC Davis Veterinarian Jan White while volunteering at a wildlife rehabilitation center in Kirkland Washington after the Tenu-Maru oil spill. They had talked about their research interests and the possibility of collaborating, but the opportunity didn't present itself until two years later at the Colonial Water Birds meeting in November of 1994. Wolfe and White met again and they decided to put together a research proposal through the TSR&TP to test out Wolfe's idea of a non-lethal biomarker in birds. "I said the obvious one is EROD induction, which is the measure of an enzyme in the mixed-function oxidase system (P450 system) that increases its activity in response to exposure to dioxin and PAHs among other compounds. One would be a toxico-kinetic effect and the other would be a dynamic effect, and it would be a very elegant comparison," Wolfe explains. White had responded that she was a veterinarian and she had access to a whole surgery suite at UC Davis. So Wolfe came down to Davis in January.
| While they were working on their grant proposal and discussing these ideas, Hanspeter Witschi, another scientist at the Institute for Toxicology & Environmental Health (ITEH) on the UC Davis campus (and former TSR&TP Associate Director), suggested using lymphocytes in their assay. Wolfe searched the National Library of Medicine and found the perfect article to complete their research plan, "Use of Competitive RT-PCR to Measure Induction of Cytochrome P4501A1 in Human Peripheral Blood Lymphocytes," by Jack vanden Huevel of Purdue University. Wolfe called up Dr. vanden Huevel and he was able to offer expert advice for their proposed methodology to use reverse-transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to measure EROD induction in lymphocytes. |  |
| Jan White, DVM, examining a Bald Eagle |
Jan White has since moved on to another position with the Arizona Department of Game and Fish, but Wolfe has continued her research at UC Davis. Her success has led to a renewed effort with a contract from the US Fish and Wildlife Service. In September 1997, a friend of Wolfe's attended a wildlife society meeting and began talking to Kim Trust, a contaminants biologist with the USFWS in Anchorage, Alaska. When Trust described her project, he noticed the similarities and told Wolfe about it. Wolfe met Trust two months later at a SETAC meeting and they discovered that they were both trying to do the same thing, but the FWS had not been blessed with the same results. They decided to pool their resources. Because the FWS is monitoring Harlequin Ducks in Prince William Sound as part of a long-term study following the Exxon Valdez oil spill, they needed to be able to draw blood from the ducks and prepare the lymphocytes in the field. A big challenge to Wolfe was to adapt their methodology to work on a boat in the middle of winter in Alaska. They couldn't just ship the samples on ice because some of the preparation had to be done immediately after the blood was drawn from the animal in order to extract the RNA. They found a solution, "The answer was to make it up in kit form." Everything was premeasured so it could be done with transfer pipettes. But there was another problem. "Since it's cold, we had to make sure the procedure could be done with gloves on. So we tried it here. Greatly to the amusement of my student helpers, I went through the entire blood preparation procedure wearing gloves." Wolfe was able to make it work. She prepared the kits, printed the protocol on waterproof paper and shipped everything to Alaska in time for the field biologists to pick it up for their cruise.
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Wildlife Biologist Kim Trust holds a captured Harlequin Duck |
The possibilities of a non-lethal assay are far-reaching. In January, Wolfe was asked to make a blood preparation field kit for 200-300 Bald Eagles that had been affected by an oil spill in Dutch Harbor, Alaska. The process is continually developing. Says Wolfe, "Species breadth and species specificity are the questions we are addressing right now. It's reasonable to think that if the enzyme is active in one species, it will be in others, but it's clear we still have some work ahead of us." Wolfe hopes that her research will help save animal lives in the quest for toxicological understanding. "There's a lot of enthusiasm and interest in non-lethal biomarkers. People want to determine everything they can and then let the animal go. Really the goal is to minimize the taking of animal life."
New Funding for Risk Assessment and Watershed Management
The Ecotoxicology lead campus component of the TSR&TP has recently received a three-year, $1.5 million CALFED grant for "Assessing Impacts of Selenium on Restoration of the San Francisco Bay-Delta Ecosystem". This research effort will contribute significantly toward the new emphasis for the Ecotoxicology program, science in watershed management.
This three-year study will provide a quantitative description of the different sources of selenium concentrations in the Bay-Delta, a determination of how changes in sources may affect selenium tissue concentrations in primary consumers, a linkage of selenium concentrations in primary consumers to uptake by predators, a direct determination of whether selenium affects reproduction and development in sturgeon, models which can forecast outcomes of alternative selenium remediation/restoration strategies, and baseline monitoring data. The proposed research will greatly assist efforts in increasing the natural production of anadromous fish.
MTBE Workshop Review
The Engineering lead campus component of the TSR&TP (CERR), in collaboration with the Southern California Society for Risk Analysis and The UC TSR&TP, convened a workshop on February 28, 1998 at UCLA on MTBE issues. A broad range of representatives from universities, state and local agencies, industry, and public interest groups discussed the history and current status of MTBE as a fuel oxygenate in California. Formal presentations were given by Dean Simeroth (California Air Resources Board), Al Jessel (Chevron), Yoram Cohen (UCLA), Joseph Brown (Cal EPA - OEHHA), John Froines (UCLA), Isaac Kaplan (Global Geochemistry), Marshall Davis (Metropolitan Water District), Rey Rodriguez (City of Santa Monica), Dan Chang (UCD), and Gene Mancini (ARCO). These presentations covered a broad spectrum of topics from the apparent benefits of MTBE with regard to air quality issues to the obvious liabilities of MTBE from contamination of groundwater and surface water supplies. The federal government's mandate for the use of oxygenates in gasoline was repeatedly stressed by several of the speakers as a limiting factor in preventing straightforward solutions to the problem of MTBE contamination of water supplies in California. Limitations in the existing data were also identified as problematic, especially with regard to health effects of MTBE, potential substitutes for MTBE as oxygenates, and the environmental fate of MTBE.
The format of the meeting encouraged questions and dialogue with the speakers; exchange of information between individuals with conflicting points of view was cordial and a noteworthy aspect of this workshop. Participants who were not featured speakers and other interested parties distributed additional information reflecting divergent perspectives on the MTBE issue. Speakers were also generous with sharing data with interested individuals.
Professors Chang and Froines discussed their SB-521 mandated research projects, and indicated highlights of the approaches they planned to take. Two of the other three grant recipients under this program (Professors Suffet and Keller) also attended the workshop. It provided a good opportunity for the UC researchers to interact and coordinate their research projects, and to ensure that all of the SB-521 mandated issues were being addressed.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
UCI Extension Hosts Environmental Protection Agency's Program Via Satellite
Irvine, CA -- Business operators can learn cost-cutting waste prevention strategies through the US Environmental Protection Agency's WasteWise program when it is downlinked via satellite to the UCI campus. Offered as a UCI Extension class, "Waste Prevention Pays: Businesses Cut Cost by Cutting Waste" will originate in Washington, DC as a real time presentation on June 17, 1998, 8:00am to 10:00am.
The program features a forum of company representatives who have significantly reduced operating costs by implementing waste prevention measures. Jim Bosch, environmental team leader for Target Stores, Nancy Hirschberg, director of natural resources for Stonyfield Farm, Inc., and Jim McCarthy, general manager of govenment and public affairs for CITGO Petroleum Corp. will share ways each has effectively implemented the WasteWise program. Ken Brown, waste analyst at the Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance, will reveal the hidden costs of nonessential practices in the office, shipping and receiving department, and purchasing. Class attendees will learn specific steps to eliminate unnecessary waste and, in turn, save money.
"I am always looking for ways to trim unnecessary operating costs in the office so we can keep our rates low and still provide top-quality service to our customers," Lou Lelea, owner of Data Logic, a computer service company said. "Eliminating wastefulness also helps protect our environment. I am looking forward to attending the class."
The satellite forum is sponsored by EPA's WasteWise program. Access to downlink sites has been provided through partnerships with national and state solid waste, government and business service organizations.
Admission is $25. For more information, or to register, please call (949) 824-5414.
Air Quality Workshop to be Held at UC Irvine April 1
The New Federal Ozone and Fine Particulate Air Quality Standards: Perspectives and Implications
- Wednesday, April 1, 1998
- 9:00am to 4:00pm
- UC Irvine Learning Center, Room 210
- 200 Manchester Avenue
- Orange, California
Registration Fee: $170, including materials and lunch
Coodinator: Mary D. Nichols, Executive Director of Environment Now in Malibu
For more information: call (714) 824-5414
This workshop provides an overview of the new US EPA federal air quality standards for ozone and fine particulates. It covers the process US EPA follows to promulgate ambient air quality standards, the health effect studies that provide the scientific and medical basis for the new standards, the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) process that provides recommendations on the proposal and implementation of new standards, and future air quality planning requirements.
Topics and Speakers:
Health Effects of Ozone and Fine Particulates Steven Colome, Chief Scientist, CES-IES Mary D. Nichols, Executive Director of Environment Now Ambient Monitoring Requirements Mel Zeldin, Director of Applied Science & Technology, SCAQMD National and Local Perspectives Henry Hogo, Planning Manager, SCAQMD How the FACA Program Can Benefit Southern California Panel of local FACA committee members Planning Requirements for Southern California Elaine Chang, Director of Planning and Policy, SCAQMD