PARENT SESSION
18 - Endocrine Disruption
8:00 AM to 6:30 PM, Monday, 13 May 2002
Exhibition Area

(18-39) Effects of atrazine on pituitary gonadotropin, sex steroids and vitellogenesis in Goldfish (Carassius auratus).

Spanò, Laura^*,1, Mikolajczyk, Tomasz², Kestemont, Patrick¹, ¹ University of Namur, Namur, Belgium² University of Agriculture of Cracow, Cracow, Poland

ABSTRACT- The effects of the widespread herbicide atrazine (2-chloro-4-ethylamino-6-isopropylamino-1,3,5-triazine) as potential endocrine disruptor in fish were investigated in adult goldfish during a 3 week experiment in laboratory conditions. Eighty fish of both sexes were exposed to different doses of atrazine (0, 100 g l^-1 and 1000 g l^-1). Fish samplings were performed on days 0, 7, 14 and 21. At each sampling, 8 fish per treatment were blood sampled for sex steroid (estradiol-17 (E₂), testosterone (T) and 11-ketotestosterone (11-KT)) and vitellogenin assays, then killed. Pituitary and gonads were removed for gonadotropin assay and sex steroid assay and histological observation, respectively. E₂ plasma levels ranged between 2,40 and 10,78 ng ml^-1 without significant differences between treatments. T gonad and plasma levels were significantly affected in males after 7 and 21 days of exposition to atrazine, respectively, at 100 g l^-1 (46,19 ng g^-1 tissue vs 119,23 and 197,34 ng g^-1 tissue in 0 and 1000 g l^-1 of atrazine) and at 1000 g l^-1 (2,09 ng ml^-1 vs 3,52 and 3,73 ng ml^-1 in other treatments). Significant differences of 11-KT levels were also observed in ovary after 7 days of exposition to atrazine at 100 g l^-1 (16,19 ng g^-1 tissue vs 18,71 and 16,46 ng g^-1 tissue in the other treatments) as well as in plasma of females after 14 days (18,12 ng ml^-1 vs 3,17 and 0,87 ng ml^-1 in the other treatments). Pituitary gonadotropin and vitellogenin assays and histological observation are still in progress. These preliminary results suggest that atrazine could be considered as an endocrine disruptor in goldfish.

Key words: Atrazine, Goldfish, Sex steroids, GTH