Exclusion of copper from altered hepatocytes in white perch (Morone americana) with hepatic copper storage

Iron is excluded from foci of hepatocellular alteration in carcinogenesis of rodents and some fish. Among white perch (Morone americana), there is a condition of hepatic copper storage in which copper-loaded livers are produced naturally. In a group of fish collected from the Chesapeake Bay, Maryland (USA), from September to December 1990, we observed hepatic lesions which excluded copper similar to the phenomenon of iron exclusion, in a white perch with over 3,600 micrograms/g wet weight hepatic copper. The lesions were of two types: one with cells morphologically different from normal hepatocytes and which had diminished to absolute exclusion of copper with the copper specific histochemical stain rubeinic acid, and a second with cells morphologically similar to normal hepatocytes which had only a partial exclusion of copper. Although the exact cause and nature of the lesions was not determined, intrinsic copper toxicity, environmental pollution, or a combination of these factors may have contributed to their development.