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DEVELOPMENT OF A QUANTITATIVE ASSAY FOR VITELLOGENIN TO MONITOR ESTROGEN-LIKE ENVIRONMENTAL CONTAMINANTS
Citation:
Denslow, N D., M. M. Chow, M. Chow, L C. Folmar, AND C. V. Sullivan. DEVELOPMENT OF A QUANTITATIVE ASSAY FOR VITELLOGENIN TO MONITOR ESTROGEN-LIKE ENVIRONMENTAL CONTAMINANTS. Presented at Second SETAC World Congress (16th Annual Meeting), Vancouver, BC, CANADA, November 05 - 09, 1995.
Impact/Purpose:
Presentation
Description:
Many environmental contaminants have the potential to disrupt endocrine systems of wildlife and humans resulting in impairment of reproductive and other systems. A subset of these contaminants may initiate these effects by binding to the estrogen receptor. In oviparous vertebrates, estrogen (or estrogen mimics) induce hepatic expression of vitellogenin, the major egg yolk protein precursor. Estrogen naturally induces this process in maturing females with growing oocytes. Males do not normally synthesize vitellogenin, but they can be induced to express vitellogenin by administration of estrogen or by exposure to estrogenic chemicals. Thus, the presence of vitellogenin in males is indicative of exposure to estrogen or to environmental contaminants that behave like estrogen. Currently there are about 300 synthetic chemicals on the TOSCA list that have been predicted to mimic estrogen based on modeling of their potential interaction with the estrogen receptor. Whether in fact these chemicals are able to bind the receptor in vivo and elicit vitellogenin synthesis is not currently known. A sensitive dose-response assay is needed to measure the potential of these chemicals to act as estrogen mimics. We have developed a quantitative ELISA to measure vitellogenin in fish serum. The assay is a two-step sandwich system requiring a specific monoclonal antibody to vitellogenin. With this assay, we should be able to measure low ng levels of vitellogenin in serum. We will present validation of the assay and demonstrate its use in monitoring exposure of fish to xenobiotics in a contaminated watershed.