Maternal Transfer and Apical and Physiological Effects of Dietary Hexabromocyclododecane Exposure in Parental Fathead Minnows (Pimephales promelas).

Hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) is a persistent organic pollutant that has been characterized as an endocrine disruptor, undergoes maternal transfer, and hinders development and growth in oviparous organisms. The present study examined the apical effects of dietary HBCD (11.5, 36.4, 106 mg/kg, wet wt) on adult fathead minnow exposed for 49 days and the subsequent accumulation and maternal transfer kinetics in adult tissue and eggs, respectively. Exposed adults displayed a significant increase in egg production in the medium treatment group, but no other significant effects were noted. Maternal transfer of dietary HBCD had a similar egg-to-muscle ratios (EMR) in the low and medium treatment groups (1.65 and 1.27 [wet wt], respectively). However, the high treatment group deviated from other treatments with an EMR of 4.2 (wet wt), potentially due to differences in total lipid content in food and/or reaching diffusion/lipid saturation limits in adult tissue, resulting in lower accumulation in the adult muscle tissue. A positive correlation was observed between egg HBCD concentration and time of exposure, which indicates that maternal transfer of HBCD is of concern in fish, and further studies should be conducted to fully elucidate the potential adverse effects that may be observed in the early life stage of oviparous organisms. Environ Toxicol Chem 2023;42:143-153. © 2022 SETAC.

Recovery of a wild fish population from whole-lake additions of a synthetic estrogen.

Despite widespread recognition that municipal wastewaters contain natural and synthetic estrogens, which interfere with development and reproduction of fishes in freshwaters worldwide, there are limited data on the extent to which natural populations of fish can recover from exposure to these compounds. We conducted whole-lake additions of an active component of the birth control pill (17α-ethynylestradiol; EE2) that resulted in the collapse of the fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas) population. Here we quantify physiological, population, and genetic characteristics of this population over the 7 years after EE2 additions stopped to determine if complete recovery was possible. By 3 years post-treatment, whole-body vitellogenin concentrations in male fathead minnow had returned to baseline, and testicular abnormalities were absent. In the spring of the fourth year, adult size-frequency distribution and abundance had returned to pretreatment levels. Microsatellite analyses clearly showed that postrecovery fish were descendants of the original EE2-treated population. Results from this whole-lake experiment demonstrate that fish can recover from EE2 exposure at the biochemical through population levels, although the timelines to do so are long for multigenerational exposures. These results suggest that wastewater treatment facilities that reduce discharges of estrogens and their mimics can improve the health of resident fish populations in their receiving environments.

Toxicokinetics of tetrabromoethylcyclohexane (TBECH) in juvenile brown trout (Salmo trutta) and effects on plasma sex hormones.

Technical 1,2-dibromo-4-(1,2 dibromoethyl)cyclohexane or tetrabromoethylcyclohexane (TBECH) used primarily as an additive flame retardant in polystyrene foams, contains two diastereoisomers, α- and ß- present in equimolar amounts. At temperatures in excess of 125°C, isomerization to two other isoforms, δ- and γ- is possible. The recent detection of TBECH in the environment and studies suggesting that isomers are androgenic prompted us to examine the toxicokinetics and biochemical effects of one of the isomers, ß-, in a controlled laboratory environment. Juvenile brown trout (Salmo trutta) were exposed to three different amounts of the ß-isomer (low, medium and high) via the food followed by a period in which they were exposed to unfortified food. A fourth group of fish was exposed to unfortified food for the duration of the experiment. On days 0, 7, 14, 21, 35, 49, 56, 63, 77, 91, 105, and 133, eight fish from each treatment group were euthanized and liver, plasma, lower jaw (i.e., thyroid tissue) and gonad were collected and the remaining tissue ('whole-fish') was retained. ß-Isomer content was measured in whole-fish and in liver while estradiol (E2), 11-ketotestosterone (11-KT) and testosterone (T) were measured in plasma. Based on liver and gonad somatic indices, no apparent effects on liver or gonad development in fish from any of the treatment groups were observed. The bioaccumulation of ß-isomer was similar in fish from all treatment groups with steady-state occurring before the end of the uptake phase. Depuration of the ß-isomer from fish obeyed first order kinetics and there were no statistically significant differences in the depuration half life (t(1/2)) among the treatment groups: 22.5 ± 10.4 (low), 13.5 ± 5.9 (med) and 13.8 ± 2.2 (high) days. Steady-state biomagnification factors were much smaller than 1 for fish in all treatment groups. Debrominated metabolites were not detected in composite liver or whole-fish extracts and there was no evidence of isomerization of the ß-isomer to other isoforms in vivo. While there were occasional differences among treatment groups in circulating plasma E2, T and 11-KT levels there was no clear, temporal trend or dose-response.

Effects of environmentally relevant concentrations of atrazine on gonadal development of snapping turtles (Chelydra serpentina).

The herbicide atrazine has been suspected of affecting sexual development by inducing aromatase, resulting in the increased conversion of androgens to estrogens. We used snapping turtles (Chelydra serpentina), a species in which sex is dependent on the production of estrogen through aromatase activity in a temperature-dependent manner, to investigate if environmentally relevant exposures to atrazine affected gonadal development. Eggs were incubated in soil to which atrazine was applied at a typical field application rate (3.1 L/ha), 10-fold this rate (31 L/ha), and a control rate (no atrazine) for the duration of embryonic development. The incubation temperature (25 degrees C) was selected to produce only males. Although some males with testicular oocytes and females were produced in the atrazine-treated groups (3.3-3.7%) but not in the control group, no statistical differences were found among treatments. Furthermore, snapping turtle eggs collected from natural nests in a corn field were incubated at the pivotal temperature (27.5 degrees C) at which both males and females normally would be produced, and some males had oocytes in the testes (15.4%). The presence of low numbers of males with oocytes may be a natural phenomenon, and we have limited evidence to suggest that the presence of normal males with oocytes may represent a feminizing effect of atrazine. Histological examination of the thyroid gland revealed no effect on thyroid morphology.