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AN INTERLABORATORY STUDY ON THE USE OF STEROID HORMONES IN EVALUATING ENDOCRINE DISRUPTION
Citation:
McMaster, M. E., J. J. Jardine, G T. Ankley, M. S. Greely Jr., W H. Benson, T. S. Gross, L. J. Guillette Jr., D. L. McLatchy, E. F. Orlando, G. Van Der Kraak, AND K. R. Munkittrick. AN INTERLABORATORY STUDY ON THE USE OF STEROID HORMONES IN EVALUATING ENDOCRINE DISRUPTION. ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY AND CHEMISTRY 20(9):2081-2087, (2001).
Description:
In recent years, there has been an increased use of the measurement of sex steroid hormone levels in the blood of animals exposed to chemicals as an indicator of reproductive impairment or an alteration in endocrine function. Although levels of hormones are often compared among animals and laboratories, there has been no study to examine the between-laboratory variability in actual steroid measurements. Therefore, we initiated a study with white sucker collected from a site receiving pulp mill effluent, previously documented as having reduced steroid levels, to address this issue. - - - Although there was a fair amount of variability in the absolute measure of steroid hormone levels, we would predict a far greater coherence of interlaboratory results through the sharing of reagents and the use of a common methodology between laboratories. These results are very promising, providing evidence for the inclusion of steroid hormones in monitoring endocrine disruption in wildlife species.