Objective To assess the effects of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) contamination from electronic waste dismantling sites on serum vitellogenin (VTG) levels and liver ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD) activities in wild male crucian carps.

Methods Two sampling sites situated in the southeast coastline, one where electric transformers and capacitors were historically dismantled in large quantities and the other where electronics production was a dominant industry, were chosen as highly and mildly polluted areas respectively. A control area without any electronic waste was also selected. Five wild male crucian carps from each site were sampled to measure muscle PCBs, liver EROD, and serum VTG levels.

Results All wild male crucian carp muscle samples contained detectable levels of 18 PCB congeners. The median of total PCB concentrations of wild male crucian carps in the highly polluted area (214 138 pg/g) was remarkably higher than that in the mildly polluted area (8 088 pg/g), and both were significantly higher than that in the control area (2 968 pg/g) (both Ps < 0.05). The liver EROD of wild male crucian carps in the highly polluted area was significantly higher than that in the control area and the mildly polluted area (both Ps < 0.05), and no significant difference in serum VTG was observed between the highly polluted area and the control area (P > 0.05). The serum VTG of wild male crucian carps in the mildly polluted area was significantly higher than that of the control area (P < 0.05), but no difference in liver EROD was seen (P > 0.05).

Conclusion The wild male crucian carps from electronic waste dismantling sites present high levels of muscle PCBs and activities of liver EROD, but no obvious change in serum VTG is observed.