PNNL

Abstract

Recent advances in biomedical research have resulted in the development of specific biomarkers for diagnostic testing of disease condition or physiological risk. Of specific interest are aII-spectrin breakdown products, which are produced by proteolytic events in traumatic brain injury and which have been used as biomarkers to predict the severity of the injury in humans and other mammals. This study describes the use of these biomarkers to detect head injury in migrating juvenile Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) that have been injured during passage through high-energy hydraulic environments present in structures such as spillway stilling basins, spillway deflectors, and hydropower turbines. Mortality and injury assessment techniques currently measure only near-term direct mortality and easily observable acute injury. Injury-based biomarkers may serve as a quantitative indicator of subacute physical injury and recovery. We describe the discovery of a head injury biomarker for migrating salmon and a successful application of this biomarker which is the first documented use of a novel, molecular biomarker in a wildlife and operational risk management scenario.