SREL Reprint #2666

Liver Histopathology of the Southern Watersnake, Nerodia fasciata fasciata, Following Chronic Exposure to Trace Element-Contaminated Prey from a Coal Ash Disposal Site

Lisa Rania Ganser1, William A. Hopkins2,3 Lauren O'Neil1, Shannon Hasse1, John H. Roe2,4
and David M. Sever1

1Department of Biology, Saint Marys College, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA
2University of Georgia, Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, Aiken, South Carolina 29802, USA
3Department of Biological Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina 29208, USA
4Department of Biological Sciences, University of Indiana-Purdue, Fort Wayne, Indiana 46805, USA

Abstract: Previous studies have demonstrated the accumulation of arsenic, cadmium, selenium, strontium, and vanadium in livers of Southern Watersnakes fed fish from a coal-ash contaminated site. Our study is the first to investigate effects of trace element accumulation on cytology of snake liver. Snakes were born in the laboratory and raised for one or two years on diets consisting of varying proportions of contaminated fish. The majority (71%) of snakes fed contaminated prey did not exhibit any differences in liver histology when compared to control snakes fed an uncontaminated diel In the remaining contaminant-exposed snakes, some aberrations were noted. The most prevalent pathology involved the proliferation of collagen fibers that resulted in narrowing or occlusion of sinusoids and increasing the mass of the intersinsuoidal parenychma. Fibrosis of the liver as a result of chronic injury has been reported previously in reptiles, but this is the first report that links such tissue damage to dietary contamination.

SREL Reprint #2666

Ganser, L. R., W. A. Hopkins, L. O'Neil, S. Hasse, J. H. Roe, and D. M. Sever. 2003. Liver histopathology of the southern watersnake, Nerodia fasciata fasciata, following chronic exposure to trace element-contaminated prey from a coal ash disposal site. Journal of Herpetology 37:219-226.

This information was provided by the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (srel.uga.edu).