Effects of exposure to several pentachlorophenol concentrations on growth of young-of-year largemouth bass, Micropterus salmoides, with comparisons to other indicators of toxicity

Pentachlorophenol (PCP) is a general metabolic poison used extensively as a biocide in many industrial applications and as such is a contaminant in many bodies of water (Rao 1978, Jones 1981). A primary action of PCP is the uncoupling of oxidative phosphorylation (Weinbach 1957, Weinbach and Garbus 1965) along with other effects on energy metabolism (Bostrom and Johansson 1972). The net effect is to increase the rate of energy metabolism in compensation for the reduced efficiency in ATP production. One important consequence of this is a reduced rate of growth , Kreuger et al. 1966, Webb and Brett 1973, Hodson and Blunt 1981, Holcombe et al. 1982, Sloof and Canton 1983, Mathers et al. 1985).