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Utility of morphological abnormalities during early‐life development of the estuarine mummichog, Fundulus heteroclitus , as an indicator of estrogenic and antiestrogenic endocrine disruption
Author(s) -
Boudreau Monica,
Courtenay Simon C,
Maclatchy Deborah L.,
Bérubé Céline H.,
Parrott Joanne L.,
van der Kraak Glen J.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
environmental toxicology and chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.1
H-Index - 171
eISSN - 1552-8618
pISSN - 0730-7268
DOI - 10.1897/03-50
Subject(s) - fundulus , biology , killifish , endocrine system , endocrinology , medicine , physiology , fish <actinopterygii> , hormone , fishery
To evaluate the use of morphological abnormalities for standard testing of endocrine‐disrupting substances (EDS), we tested the hypothesis that developmental abnormalities are a sensitive indicator of exposure to waterborne estrogenic and antiestrogenic EDS during embryonic, larval, and juvenile stages in the common estuarine killifish, the mummichog (Pisces: Cyprino‐dontidae). Static exposures with daily renewal were carried out with 10 to 10,000 ng/L of the estrogen agonist 17α‐ethynylestradiol (EE 2 ) or antagonist ZM189,154 (ZM) for the first 25 or 60 d of life. Incidence of skeletal abnormalities (scoliosis, lordosis, head, craniofacial, jaw, fin) and soft tissue abnormality (anal swelling) were significantly increased by EE 2 but only at high concentrations (1,000 or 10,000 ng/L). Sixty‐day exposure produced more severe abnormalities than 25‐d exposure and in a higher proportion of fish. Within the longer exposure, 10,000 ng/L EE 2 produced more abnormal fish than 1,000 ng/L (100% vs 51.6%) and more abnormalities per abnormal fish (5.73 vs 1.47). Fish reared to 12 months in clean water after exposure for 60 d to 10,000 ng/L EE 2 survived at a lower rate than controls, retained abnormalities with the exception of anal swelling and, like fish exposed to other concentrations of EE 2 and ZM, showed increased weight at length at 6 and 12 months. Sixty‐day exposure to ZM increased the incidence of scoliosis (1,000 ng/L) but decreased the overall incidences of abnormal fish and lordosis (10 and 10,000 ng/L). No impacts of EE 2 or ZM were observed before hatch, and clearing and staining of larvae demonstrated that expression of vertebral abnormalities coincided temporally with ossification. We conclude that morphological abnormalities in mummichogs are not a sensitive indicator of exposure to estrogenic or antiestrogenic waterborne EDSs at environmentally relevant concentrations.