Endocrine disrupting effects on Chinese rare minnow (Gobiocypris rarus) fed with field collected Limnodrilus sp.

Article type: Research Article

Authors: MA, Tao-wu^; | WANG, Zi-jian | LIU, Jian-kang

Affiliations: State Key Laboratory of Environmental Aquatic Chemistry, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China | Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China

Note: [] Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract: The potential endocrine disrupting effects and other toxicity effects on aquatic biota resulted from food uptake was simulated by feeding the laboratory cultured rare minnow (Gobiocypris rarus) with field collected Limnodrilus sp. The results indicated that the food chain processes affected significantly the growth, slightly reduced gonadosomatic indices, and elevated hepatosomatic indices. There was an obvious vitellogenin (VTG) induction, which generally only occurred in mature female, in the serum of juvenile rare minnow and mature male when fed with Limnodrilus sp. In addition, the rare minnow feeding on Limnodrilus sp. had significantly high renal indices, it meant obvious renal hyperplasia. The present work suggested that Limnodrilus sp. from field water may contain toxic pollutants and could lead to endocrine disruption effects to the predators. It was concluded that endocrine disruptors may not only be assimilated through water, but also be bioconcentrated through food web. The results also suggested the importance of food selection in conducting the study of endocrine disruption effects using sensitive species.

Keywords: rare minnow (Grobiocypris rarus), Limnodrilus sp., endocrine disruption, food chain, vitellogenin

Journal: Journal of Environmental Sciences, vol. 16, no. 5, pp. 784-787, 2004