Experiments were conducted to compare the sensitivity ofprimary cultures of common tern (Sterna hirundo) and chicken(Gallus domesticus) embryo hepatocytes to cytochrome P4501A (CYP1A)induction and porphyrin accumulation after exposure to halogenated aromatichydrocarbons (HAHs) or tern egg extracts. The HAHs tested were2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p -dioxin (TCDD),2,3,7, 8-tetrachlorodibenzofuran (TCDF) 3,3',4,4'-tetrachlorobiphenyl (PCB 77;IUPAC nomenclature), 3,3',4,4',5-pentachlorobiphenyl (PCB 126),3, 3',4,4',5,5'-hexachlorobiphenyl (PCB 169) and Aroclor(R) 1254 (a commercialmixture of PCBs). Extracts were prepared from common tern eggs collected fromthree sites in the Great Lakes basin and one reference site on the east coastof Canada. CYP1A induction was assayed asethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD) activity and/or immunodetectableCYP1A protein, and total intracellular porphyrin accumulation was measuredfluorometrically. Unlike chicken embryo hepatocyte (CEH) cultures, nointracellular porphyrin accumulation was observed after treatment of ternembryo hepatocyte (TEH) cultures with HAHs or egg extracts. TEH cultures were approximately 50 to >1600 times less sensitive than CEH cultures to HAH-mediated CYP1Ainduction. In contrast, TEH cultures were either approximately equallysensitive or only 3.5-15 times less sensitive than CEH cultures to CYP1Ainduction mediated by tern egg extracts. These data suggest that common ternembryos may be more susceptible to the CYP1A inducing effects mediated bycomplex mixtures of environmental contaminants than indicated by theirresponse to individual HAHs.