Biology Faculty Articles

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-7-2021

Publication Title

PLOS One

Keywords

Metaplasia, Eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica, Deepwater Horizon oil spill

ISSN

1932-6203

Volume

16

Issue/No.

9

First Page

e0247739

Abstract

Metaplasia is a well documented and deleterious effect of crude oil components on bivalved molluscs, including oysters. This reversible transformation of one cell type to another, is a common response to petroleum-product exposure in molluscs. It has been shown experimentally in previous work that eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica) exposed to petroleum products will exhibit metaplasia of digestive tissues. Here we document for the first time that wild adult oysters inhabiting coastal waters in the northern Gulf of Mexico during and in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill (2010) exhibited metaplasia in both ctenidia and digestive epithelia at significantly higher levels than geographic controls of C. virginica from Chesapeake Bay. Both ctenidial (respiratory and suspension feeding) and digestive tract tissues exhibited significantly higher frequencies of metaplasia in specimens from the Gulf of Mexico compared to those from Chesapeake Bay. Metaplasia included the loss of epithelial cilia, transformations of columnar epithelia, hyperplasia and reduction of ctenidial branches, and vacuolization of digestive tissues. Evidence for a reduction of metaplasia following the oil spill (2010-2013) is suggestive but equivocal.

Comments

Field work in Louisiana and Alabama was assisted by Annette Engel, Carrol Michael, and Caroline Dietz. Timothy Chung, Michael Hellman and Scott Elliott assisted with histological preparations. The authors acknowledge support from The Nova Southeastern University President’s Faculty Research and Development Grant No. 335317, and field support from the Louisiana Sea Grant College Program.

Additional Comments

© 2021 Roopnarine et al.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.1371/journal.pone.0247739

Peer Reviewed

Included in

Biology Commons

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