Do environmental factors affect male fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas) response to estrone? Part 1. Dissolved...

Laboratory exposures indicate that estrogens and their mimics can cause endocrine disruption in male fishes, yet while studies of resident fish populations in estrogen-polluted waters support these findings, biomarker expression associated with field versus laboratory exposure to estrogenic endocrine disruptors (EDs) often differ dramatically. Two of the environmental parameters often found to vary in dynamic aquatic ecosystems were chosen (dissolved oxygen [DO] and sodium chloride concentrations) to assess their potential impact on ED exposure. In separate experiments, male fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas) were exposed to estrone (E1) a natural ED, under either two concentrations of DO, or two concentrations of sodium chloride, in a laboratory flow-through system. Morphological and hematological parameters were assessed. While vitellogenin concentrations were elevated with exposure to estrone (29 to 390ng/L), the effect on other indices were variable. Estrone exposure altered SSC, blood glucose, hematocrit, and hepatic and gonado-somatic index in 1 of 4 experiments, while it decreased body condition factor in 3 of 4 experiments. At the concentrations tested, no main effect differences (P<0.05) were found associated with DO or sodium chloride treatments, except in one experiment low DO resulted in a decrease in secondary sex characteristic score (SSC). The combination of DO or sodium chloride and E1 altered blood glucose in one experiment each. These results indicate the variability of fathead minnow response to estrone, even within the confines of controlled laboratory conditions.