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The effect of 17?-ethynylestradiol on steroidogenesis and gonadal cytokine gene expression is related to the reproductive stage in marine hermaphrodite fish.

ABSTRACT: Pollutants have been reported to disrupt the endocrine system of marine animals, which may be exposed through contaminated seawater or through the food chain. Although 17?-ethynylestradiol (EE?), a drug used in hormone therapies, is widely present in the aquatic environment, current knowledge on the sensitivity of marine fish to estrogenic pollutants is limited. We report the effect of the dietary intake of 5 µg EE?/g food on different processes of testicular physiology, ranging from steroidogenesis to pathogen recognition, at both pre-spermatogenesis (pre-SG) and spermatogenesis (SG) reproductive stages, of gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata L.), a marine hermaphrodite teleost. A differential effect between pre-SG and SG specimens was detected in the sex steroid serum levels and in the expression profile of some steroidogenic-relevant molecules, vitellogenin, double sex- and mab3-related transcription factor 1 and some hormone receptors. Interestingly, EE? modified the expression pattern of some immune molecules involved in testicular physiology. These differences probably reflect a developmental adjustment of the sensitivity to EE? in the gilthead seabream gonad.

SUBMITTER: Cabas I

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3877897 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The effect of 17α-ethynylestradiol on steroidogenesis and gonadal cytokine gene expression is related to the reproductive stage in marine hermaphrodite fish.

Cabas Isabel I Chaves-Pozo Elena E García-Alcázar Alicia A Meseguer José J Mulero Victoriano V García-Ayala Alfonsa A

Marine drugs 20131211 12

Pollutants have been reported to disrupt the endocrine system of marine animals, which may be exposed through contaminated seawater or through the food chain. Although 17α-ethynylestradiol (EE₂), a drug used in hormone therapies, is widely present in the aquatic environment, current knowledge on the sensitivity of marine fish to estrogenic pollutants is limited. We report the effect of the dietary intake of 5 µg EE₂/g food on different processes of testicular physiology, ranging from steroidogen ...[more]

PMID: 24335523

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Project description:Interest in the occurrence and fate of trace organic contaminants in the aquatic environment and their potential effects on all organisms has increased over the past two decades. Researches on contaminants have included both natural and synthetic estrogenic contaminants, neuroactive pharmaceuticals, and other endocrine disrupting chemicals that are mediated by the androgen and progesterone receptors. Exposure to very low concentrations (ng/L or parts per trillion) of compounds such as 17α-ethynylestradiol (EE(2)), a synthetic estrogen, can affect gonadal development, viability and production of eggs, fertilization rate, and sexual differentiation in fishes. Researchers and aquaculturists have used exposures to relatively higher concentrations of androgens and estrogens, for example 17α-methyltestosterone and EE(2), respectively, to direct sexual differentiation in a number of fishes. Rivulus is an androdioecious teleost that in nature exists mostly as selfing, simultaneous hermaphrodites as well as a small number of males that outcross with hermaphrodites. No one has either collected females in the wild or created functional females in the laboratory. This study had two goals: (1) to develop a reliable protocol to produce female rivulus to enable downstream technologies such as embryo injections and (2) to investigate developmental effects of EE(2) on the sexual outcome, reproductive health, and relevant gene expression in rivulus. With these goals in mind, we exposed newly hatched rivulus to nominal concentrations of 0.1, 0.5, or 1.0 parts per million (ppm) EE(2) for 4 weeks, grew them to maturity in control water, and then compared egg production; production and viability of embryos; age of reproductive maturity; and gene expression in the brain, gonad, and liver. Expression levels of seven genes with known relevance to gonadal development and function (cyp19a1b, cyp19a1a, dmrt1, figα, ERα, ERβ, and vtg) were measured using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR). There was a significant decrease in cyp19a1a gene expression in the brain, corresponding to increased exposure to EE(2). Gonadal gene expression for cyp19a1a, ERα, and dmrt1 also decreased in response to EE(2). Vtg expression in the liver was unaffected. Our hypothesis that exposure to EE(2) during gonadal differentiation would direct female development was not supported by the data. However, treated fish exhibited impaired reproductive health that included reduced expression of relevant genes and, importantly, decreased fertility, increased sterility, and delay of age of reproductive maturity. The results of this study suggest that the development and maintenance of a simultaneous hermphrodite ovotestis may be particularly sensitive to its hormonal milieu.

Dataset Information

The effect of 17?-ethynylestradiol on steroidogenesis and gonadal cytokine gene expression is related to the reproductive stage in marine hermaphrodite fish.

Publications

The effect of 17α-ethynylestradiol on steroidogenesis and gonadal cytokine gene expression is related to the reproductive stage in marine hermaphrodite fish.

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