Enhanced antibody responses in mink (Mustela vison) exposed to dietary bleached‐kraft pulp mill effluent

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Abstract
Mammalian top predators such as mink (Mustela vison) that inhabit a semi‐aquatic environment may be exposed to bleached‐kraft mill effluent (BKME), directly through the water, or indirectly through bioaccumulation of compounds in BKME via the food chain. To assess the potential immunotoxic effects of this exposure, the antibody response of 20 female mink exposed to dietary BKME for 26 weeks was studied. After 16 weeks on the BKME diet, sera were collected to determine prevaccination antibody levels against a mycobacterial antigen. Four weeks later, during early gestation, mink were immunized with a vaccine prepared from a culture of bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG). Sera were collected 6 weeks following vaccination and antimycobacterial antibody levels measured. A protein extract from cultured BCG was used as the capture antigen in an indirect enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay to quantify mink immunoglobulin specific for BCG. Both the control and BKME‐exposed mink had significantly increased BCG antibody concentrations postimmunization compared to preimmunization levels. The BKME‐exposed group antibody levels postimmunization were significantly higher (p = 0.029) than the corresponding control group. These results demonstrate immune modulation from dietary BKME, which was expressed as enhanced specific antibody production in mink. A related study describes cell‐mediated immunosuppression in these BKME‐exposed mink, supporting the hypothesis of immune deviation proposed here.

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