Feminizing effects of ethinylestradiol in roach (Rutilus rutilus) populations with different estrogenic pollution exposure histories
Hamilton, PB; Baynes, A; Nicol, E; et al.Harris, G; Webster, TMU; Beresford, N; Straszkiewicz, M; Jobling, S; Tyler, CR
Date: 17 June 2022
Article
Journal
Aquatic Toxicology
Publisher
Elsevier
Publisher DOI
Abstract
Experimental exposures aimed at assessing the risks posed by estrogens in waste-water treatment work (WwTW)
effluents to fish populations have rarely considered whether populations differ in their sensitivity to estrogenic
compounds. This is despite evidence that selection at genes involved in the estrogen response has occurred ...
Experimental exposures aimed at assessing the risks posed by estrogens in waste-water treatment work (WwTW)
effluents to fish populations have rarely considered whether populations differ in their sensitivity to estrogenic
compounds. This is despite evidence that selection at genes involved in the estrogen response has occurred in
wild populations, and evidence that genotype can influence estrogen-response. In this study we compare the
effects of a two-year exposure to a low measured concentration (1.3 ng/L) of ethinylestradiol (EE2) on the sexual
development of roach (Rutilus rutilus) whose parental generation was sampled from two river stretches heavily
contaminated with WwTW effluent and from two without any known WwTW effluent contamination. Exposure
to EE2 significantly reduced the proportion of genetic males and induced a range of feminized phenotypes in
males. Significantly, exposure also increased the proportion of genetic females with vitellogenic oocytes from 51
to 96%, raising the possibility that estrogen pollution could impact populations of annually spawning fish species
through advancing female reproduction by at least a year. However, there was no evidence that river origin
affected sensitivity to estrogens in either sex. Thus, we conclude that chronic exposure to low level EE2 has
reproductive health outcomes for both male and female roach, but we find no evidence that the nature or
magnitude of the response is affected by the population origin.
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