scholarly journals Polychaetes as bioindicators of environmental pollution: Impact of bisphenol A on the reproduction rate of Ophryotrocha diadema (Åkesson, 1976) (Eunicida: Dorvilleidae)

2021 ◽  
pp. 61-66
Author(s):  
Stefano Ruberto ◽  
Daniele Buono ◽  
Alfredo Santovito

Bisphenol A (BPA) is one of the most used additives in the production of many plastic products and may be released into the environment by commonly used products, such as food containers and polycarbonate bottles. BPA is recognized as an endocrine disruptor able to produce adverse effects on the reproduction system of benthonic and pelagic species. Polychaetes of the genus Ophryotrocha are small worms living amongst the interstitial fauna in nutrient-rich and polluted habitats. Owing to easy rearing in the laboratory and short generation times, this species is a useful model organism for studying different biological aspects. This study describes the effects of different BPA concentrations on egg production in Ophryotrocha diadema. We tested six different concentrations of BPA in a 5-week experiment. Strong negative correlation between BPA concentrations and the number of eggs produced was found. The t-test revealed a significant reduction in egg production after exposure to BPA concentrations over 1461.1 μg/L. The latter concentration value is higher than that observed in the marine environment, although for many species of crustaceans, echinoderms and isopods, the impairment of reproductive function was observed even at much lower BPA concentrations.

Author(s):  
Faustin Pascal Tsagué Manfo ◽  
Rajamanickam Jubendradass ◽  
Edouard Akono Nantia ◽  
Paul Fewou Moundipa ◽  
Premendu Prakash Mathur

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 324-335 ◽  
Author(s):  
Faustin Pascal Tsagué Manfo ◽  
Cathérine Harthé ◽  
Edouard Akono Nantia ◽  
Henri Dechaud ◽  
Angèle Nkouatchoua Tchana ◽  
...  

The consequences of bisphenol A (BPA) exposure on male reproductive function were studied in two populations from Cameroon, farmers using agro pesticides in Djutitsa (rural area) and townsmen in Yaoundé (urban area, Centre region). Urinary BPA concentration from all participants was measured, and the values were correlated with biochemical markers of male reproductive function. The data showed that BPA could be detected in 92.6% of urine participants, with an average concentration of 2.18 ± 1.97 µg/g creatinine but with no significant difference between the urinary BPA concentration from rural and urban populations. From BPA urinary concentration, the BPA average daily intake was estimated to be 0.06 ± 0.05 μg/kg/day (3.51 µg/day per individual) in the Cameroon population. Interestingly, free and bioavailable testosterone concentrations and estradiol/testosterone ratio correlated with BPA levels in the overall population. When data were analysed according to residence, BPA correlated with total testosterone levels ( r = −0.433) and estradiol/testosterone ratio ( r = 0.338) in the urban residents only, while the rural population exhibited significant increases in sex-hormone-binding globulin with increased BPA exposure. Our data showed that the male Cameroon population is exposed to BPA but that inconstant BPA association to endocrine reproductive markers suggests that other environmental factors in combination with BPA exposure might influence testicular function.


2011 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 358-369 ◽  
Author(s):  
Don Deibel ◽  
Ben Lowen

Abstract Deibel, D., and Lowen, B. 2012. A review of the life cycles and life-history adaptations of pelagic tunicates to environmental conditions. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 69: 358–369. Phylogeny, life cycles, and life-history adaptations of pelagic tunicates to temperature and food concentration are reviewed. Using literature data on lifetime egg production and generation time of appendicularians, salps, and doliolids, rmax, the maximum rate of lifetime reproductive fitness, is calculated as a common metric of adaptation to environmental conditions. The rmax values are high for all three groups, ranging from ∼0.1 to 1.9 d−1, so population doubling times range from ∼8 h to 1 week. These high values of rmax are attributable primarily to short generation times, ranging from 2 to 50 d. Clearly, pelagic tunicates are adapted to event-scale (i.e. days to weeks) rather than seasonal-scale changes in environmental conditions. Although they are not closely related phylogenetically, all three groups have a unique life-history adaptation promoting high lifetime fitness. Appendicularians have late oocyte selection, salps are viviparous, and doliolids possess a polymorphic asexual phase. There has been little research on hermaphroditic appendicularians, on large oceanic salps, and on doliolids generally. Research is needed on factors regulating generation time, on the heritability of life-history traits, and on age- and size-specific rates of mortality.


2016 ◽  
Vol 78 (5) ◽  
pp. 410-416 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Layton ◽  
Jason Belden

Engaging students in the process of science to increase learning and critical thinking has become a key emphasis in undergraduate education. Introducing environmental topics, such as the effects of endocrine-disrupting chemicals, into undergraduate courses offers a new means to increase student engagement. Daphnia magna can serve as a model organism for endocrine disruption, and its ease of handling, rapid reproduction rate, and clearly defined endpoints make it useful in short-term, student research projects. The concept of endocrine disruption can be tested through a 21-day reproductive study of D. magna exposed to varying concentrations of the pesticide fenoxycarb. Students will observe an altered reproduction rate and increased production of males under conditions that would typically result only in the production of female offspring. This research system allows students to formulate hypotheses, set up experiments, analyze data, and present results, leading to a greater appreciation of and interest in science.


eLife ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhipeng Zhou ◽  
Yunkun Dang ◽  
Mian Zhou ◽  
Haiyan Yuan ◽  
Yi Liu

Codon usage biases are found in all genomes and influence protein expression levels. The codon usage effect on protein expression was thought to be mainly due to its impact on translation. Here, we show that transcription termination is an important driving force for codon usage bias in eukaryotes. Using Neurospora crassa as a model organism, we demonstrated that introduction of rare codons results in premature transcription termination (PTT) within open reading frames and abolishment of full-length mRNA. PTT is a wide-spread phenomenon in Neurospora, and there is a strong negative correlation between codon usage bias and PTT events. Rare codons lead to the formation of putative poly(A) signals and PTT. A similar role for codon usage bias was also observed in mouse cells. Together, these results suggest that codon usage biases co-evolve with the transcription termination machinery to suppress premature termination of transcription and thus allow for optimal gene expression.


2015 ◽  
Vol 105 (5) ◽  
pp. 629-636 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. David ◽  
B. Giffard ◽  
I. van Halder ◽  
D. Piou ◽  
H. Jactel

AbstractEnergy allocation strategies have been widely documented in insects and were formalized in the context of the reproduction process by the terms ‘capital breeder’ and ‘income breeder’. We propose here the extension of this framework to dispersal ability, with the concepts of ‘capital disperser’ and ‘income disperser’, and explore the trade-off in resource allocation between dispersal and reproduction. We hypothesized that flight capacity was sex-dependent, due to a trade-off in energy allocation between dispersal and egg production in females. We used Monochamus galloprovincialis as model organism, a long-lived beetle which is the European vector of the pine wood nematode. We estimated the flight capacity with a flight mill and used the number of mature eggs as a proxy for the investment in reproduction. We used the ratio between dry weights of the thorax and the abdomen to investigate the trade-off. The probability of flying increased with the adult weight at emergence, but was not dependent on insect age or sex. Flight distance increased with age in individuals but did not differ between sexes. It was also positively associated with energy allocation to thorax reserves, which increased with age. In females, the abdomen weight and the number of eggs also increase with age with no negative effect on flight capacity, indicating a lack of trade-off. This long-lived beetle has a complex strategy of energy allocation, being a ‘capital disperser’ in terms of flight ability, an ‘income disperser’ in terms of flight performance and an ‘income breeder’ in terms of egg production.


Endocrinology ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 156 (7) ◽  
pp. 2563-2570 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph R. Kurian ◽  
Kim L. Keen ◽  
Brian P. Kenealy ◽  
James P. Garcia ◽  
Curtis J. Hedman ◽  
...  

Bisphenol A (BPA) is an industrial compound with pervasive distribution in the environments of industrialized countries. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control recently found that greater than 90% of Americans carry detectable levels of BPA, raising concern over the direct influences of this compound on human physiology. Epidemiologic evidence links elevated BPA serum concentrations to human reproductive dysfunction, although controlled studies on the acute effect of BPA exposure on reproductive function are limited, particularly in primates. We evaluated the effect of direct BPA exposure on female primate hypothalamic peptide release. Specifically, using a microdialysis method, we examined the effects of BPA (0.1, 1, and 10nM) directly infused to the stalk-median eminence on the release of GnRH and kisspeptin (KP) in mid to late pubertal ovarian intact female rhesus monkeys. We found that the highest level of BPA exposure (10nM) suppressed both GnRH and KP release, whereas BPA at lower concentrations (0.1 and 1nM) had no apparent effects. In addition, we measured BPA in plasma and hypothalamic dialysates after an iv bolus injection of BPA (100 μg/kg). We found a relatively stable distribution of BPA between the blood and brain (plasma:brain ≅ 5:1) persists across a wide range of blood BPA concentrations (1–620 ng/mL). Findings of this study suggest that persistent, high-level exposures to BPA could impair female reproductive function by directly influencing hypothalamic neuroendocrine function.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-17
Author(s):  
Tomas Jambor ◽  
Eva Kovacikova

Infertility is widespread problem defined as the inability to conceive after one year of unprotected intercourse. One of the most notable factors causing this status is the exposure to environmental contaminants. It is now recognized that many contaminants present in the environment have the ability to interfere in the action of hormones and therefore are termed endocrine disruptors (EDs). Some of these compounds are present in nature, but the majority are artificial and released into the environment by the human activities without any prior knowledge of their impact on ecosystems, animal welfare, or wildlife and human health. Many epidemiological studies have reported a radical growth in the incidence of male infertility, accompanied by decreasing sperm quality, decline in spermatozoa motility, defect in Leydig cell morphology, insufficient activity of steroidogenesis and spermatogenesis. The similar situation was observed in female, when the increased risk for endometriosis, reproductive and other endocrine-related cancer, impaired oocytes, ovarian dysfunction, or irregular menstrual cycle was confirmed. All mentioned consequences have been associated with increasing concentration of bisphenol A (BPA) in the environment. Humans are exposed to BPA not only through specific occupational circumstance, but nowadays more generally also from the ordinary day-to-day domestic and workplace lifestyles. Almost 3.4 million tons per year of BPA is used in a variety common product such as food packaging, household products, epoxy resins, dental sealants and many others. Under these endpoints, apprehensions about the reproductive dysfunctions associated with BPA action are unquestionable. In this review, we address the topic of BPA effects on reproductive function in males and females and emphasize its effects on overall health. A considerably more detailed and systematic research in EDs toxicology is required for a better understanding of risks associated with exposure to environmental toxicants.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 471 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Pallotti ◽  
Marianna Pelloni ◽  
Daniele Gianfrilli ◽  
Andrea Lenzi ◽  
Francesco Lombardo ◽  
...  

Great attention has been paid in recent years to the harmful effects of various chemicals that interfere with our natural hormone balance, collectively known as endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) or endocrine disruptors. The effects on the reproductive system of bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates have received particular attention: while they have a short half-life, they are so widespread that human exposure can be considered as continuous. Evidence is often limited to the animal model, disregarding the likelihood of human exposure to a mixture of contaminants. Data from animal models show that maternal exposure probably has harmful effects on the male fetus, with an increased risk of urogenital developmental abnormalities. After birth, exposure is associated with changes in the hypothalamic-pituitary-testicular axis, hindering the development and function of the male genital pathways through the mediation of inflammatory mechanisms and oxidative stress. The epidemiological and clinical evidence, while generally confirming the association between reproductive abnormalities and some phthalate esters and BPA, is more contradictory, with wildly different findings. The aim of this review is therefore to provide an update of the potential mechanisms of the damage caused by BPA and phthalates to reproductive function and a review of the clinical evidence currently available in the literature.


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