|
(T/EH064) Induction of vitellogenesis as a biomarker for endocrine disruption in the freshwater amphipod Hyalella azteca. Vandenbergh, Gert1, Janssen, Colin1, 1 ABSTRACT- The detrimental effects of endocrine modulating chemicals on humans and wildlife are receiving increased attention from both the regulatory and scientific community. However, to date, few standardized assays aimed at detecting environmental endocrine disruption are available. As many endocrine disruptive chemicals are lipophilic and may accumulate in sediments, potential endocrine disrupting effects of contaminated sediments should be studied. In this study the use of Hyalella azteca, a standard sediment toxicity test species, for the development of a standard endocrine disruption assay is examined. Particular attention was paid to the induction of vitellogenesis in H. azteca as a biomarker for the detection of environmental endocrine disruption. Based on known sequences of vitellogenin of different species (invertebrates and vertebrates) primers were constructed to identify vitellogenin in H. azteca by RT-PCR. With some primer combinations, fragments were detected that only appeared when using mRNA from female organisms. However, due to a limited reproducibility of the test results further optimalization of the PCR process is needed. The further study of these fragments may lead to the identification of (a) female specific gene(s) in H. azteca, which can serve as a template for the construction of specific probes for the study of the induction of vitellogenesis in H. azteca. Key words: endocrine disruption, vitellogenesis, biomarker, Hyalella azteca |
