Elevated Ovarian Follicular Apoptosis and Heat Shock Protein-70 Expression in White Sucker Exposed to Bleached Kraft Pulp Mill Effluent

Exposure of feral fish populations to bleached kraft pulp mill effluent (BKME) results in a variety of negative impacts on reproductive fitness including reduced ovarian development, reduced egg size, decreased fecundity with age, delayed sexual maturation, and alterations in reproductive endocrine homeostasis at multiple sites along the pituitary-gonadal axis. The present study provides evidence of elevated apoptotic DNA fragmentation and …