Screening for potential effects of endocrine-disrupting chemicals in peri-urban creeks and rivers in Melbourne, Australia using mosquitofish and recombinant receptor-reporter gene assays

Chinathamby, Kavitha, Allinson, Mayumi, Shiraishi, Fujio, Lopata, Andreas, Nugegoda, Dayanthi, Pettigrove, Vincent, and Allinson, Graeme (2013) Screening for potential effects of endocrine-disrupting chemicals in peri-urban creeks and rivers in Melbourne, Australia using mosquitofish and recombinant receptor-reporter gene assays. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 20 (3). pp. 1831-1841.

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Abstract

Sexually mature male mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki) were collected from various sites around Melbourne in 2009 to evaluate the performance of gonopodial indices as a biomarker for endocrine disruption in Melbourne's waterways. The mosquitofish indices assessed were body length (BL), gonopodial length (GL)/BL ratio, ray 4:6 ratio and the absence or presence of hooks and serrae, and these varied between sites. The study was complemented by measurements of estrogenic, retinoid, thyroid and aryl hydrocarbon (AhR) receptor activities of the water. Male mosquitofish were 16.3-21.5 mm in length, and although there was a statistically significant positive relationship showing that bigger fish had longer gonopodia than small fish (r2 = 0.52, p < 0.001), there were few significant differences in GL/BL ratio of fish between sites. Measured estrogenic activity was mostly in the range 0.1-1.7 ng/L EEQ, with one site having much higher levels (similar to 12 ng/L EEQ). Aryl hydrocarbon (AhR) receptor activity was observed in all water samples (7-180 ng/L beta NF EQ), although there was no consistent pattern in the level of AhR activity observed, i.e., 'clean' sites were as likely to return a high AhR activity response as urban or wastewater treatment plant (WWTP)-impacted sites. There was no correlation between measurements of receptor actvity and gonopodial length (GL):BL ratio and BL. We conclude that the mosquitofish gonopodia only fulfills part of the criteria for biomarker selection for screening. The mosquitofish indices assessed were cheap and easy-to-perform procedures; however, there is no baseline data from the selected sites to evaluate whether differences in the morpholical indices observed at a site were a result of natural selection in the population or due to estrogenic exposure.

Item ID: 26765
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1614-7499
Keywords: male mosquitofish, Gonopodium, two-hybrid yeast recombinant receptor-reporter gene assay activity, Australia
Funders: Melbourne Water, Department of Primary Industries, Australian Research Council (ARC), Victorian Water Trust
Projects and Grants: 08160 and 06889, #DP0343410, #33 V-4000
Date Deposited: 24 Apr 2013 11:15
FoR Codes: 11 MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES > 1117 Public Health and Health Services > 111705 Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety @ 100%
SEO Codes: 92 HEALTH > 9202 Health and Support Services > 920203 Diagnostic Methods @ 100%
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