You are here:
VITELLOGENIN-INDUCED PATHOLOGY AND MORTALITY IN MALE SUMMER FLOUNDER (PARALICHTHYS DENTATUS)
Citation:
Folmar, L C., G R. Gardner, M. P. Schreibman, L. MagliuloCepriano, D. B. Horowity, L J. Mills, R E. GutjahrGobell, AND N D. Denslow. VITELLOGENIN-INDUCED PATHOLOGY AND MORTALITY IN MALE SUMMER FLOUNDER (PARALICHTHYS DENTATUS). AQUATIC TOXICOLOGY 51(4):431-441, (2001).
Description:
Male summer flounder (Paralichthys dentatus) were given two injections (initially and two weeks later) of 17 b-estradiol (E2) totaling 0.2 (2 x 0.1), 2.0 (2 x 1.0) or 20.0 (2 x 10.0) mg E2/kg body weight. Blood and tissue samples were collected 4, 6 and 8 weeks after the initial injection in the (2 x 0.1) mg/kg treatment, 4,6,8, and 15 weeks after the first injection in the (2 x 1.0) mg/kg treatment and at 4 weeks only in the (2 x 10.0) mg/kg treatment. Five of the 12 fish injected twice with 10.0 mg/kg were dead or moribund before the first sampling period. Circulating levels of vitellogenin (VTG) in the blood of all E2-injected fish from all treatments were comparable with those concentrations found in the blood of wild male fish collected near a sewage treatment plant (0.1 to 10.0 mg VTG/ml plasma). Excessive hyalin material accumulated in the livers, kidneys and testes of the treated fish. A portion of that material was identified as VTG by immunohistochemistry. The accumulation of VTG, and possibly other estrogen-inducible proteins, resulted in hepatocyte hypertrophy, retarded development of the gonad accompanied by orchiatrophy and clusters of dead germ cells, and obstruction or rupture of renal glomeruli.