Vitellogenin expression, ovarian growth and hormone levels are affected by atrazine in the crayfish Procambarus clarkii

VATNICK, ITZICK; SILVEYRA, PATRICIA; RODRÍGUEZ, ENRIQUE M.; SILVEYRA, GABRIELA R.; MEDESANI, DANIEL A.

Roma

Congreso; Setac Europe 28th Annual Meeting; 2018

SETAC Europe

Atrazine, a widely use herbicide, has been classified as a potential endocrine disruptor, especially for freshwaterspecies. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that atrazine can affect reproduction in crayfish through dysregulationof vitellogenin expression and hormone synthesis. Adult female crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) wereexposed during one month to atrazine at concentrations of either 1 or 5 mg/L. At the end of the exposure,ovaries, hepatopancreas, and hemolymph samples were harvested for analysis of vitellogenin expression andsteroid hormone levels. Ovarian tissue was also sampled for both biochemical and histological analyses. Ourresults show that atrazine-exposed crayfish had a lower expression of vitellogenin in the ovary and hepatopancreas,as well as smaller oocytes, and reduced vitellogenin content in the ovary. Despite these effects, circulatinglevels of estradiol increased in females exposed to 5 mg/L of atrazine, showing that the inhibiting effectof atrazine on vitellogenin production was not related to a lower secretion of sexual steroids. Instead, some earlystimulating effects of estradiol on vitellogenesis could have occurred, particularly in the hepatopancreas. On theother hand, atrazine caused a higher metabolic effort, in terms of lactate production, presumably triggered toprovide the energy needed to face the unspecific stress produced by the herbicide. Lipid peroxidation was notaffected by atrazine, but glutathione levels were significantly increased.