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Screening for potential effects of endocrine-disrupting chemicals in peri-urban creeks and rivers in Melbourne, Australia using mosquitofish and recombinant receptor–reporter gene assays

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Abstract

Sexually mature male mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki) were collected from various sites around Melbourne in 2009 to evaluate the performance of gonopodial indices as a biomarker for endocrine disruption in Melbourne's waterways. The mosquitofish indices assessed were body length (BL), gonopodial length (GL)/BL ratio, ray 4:6 ratio and the absence or presence of hooks and serrae, and these varied between sites. The study was complemented by measurements of estrogenic, retinoid, thyroid and aryl hydrocarbon (AhR) receptor activities of the water. Male mosquitofish were 16.3–21.5 mm in length, and although there was a statistically significant positive relationship showing that bigger fish had longer gonopodia than small fish (r2 = 0.52, p < 0.001), there were few significant differences in GL/BL ratio of fish between sites. Measured estrogenic activity was mostly in the range 0.1–1.7 ng/L EEQ, with one site having much higher levels (~12 ng/L EEQ). Aryl hydrocarbon (AhR) receptor activity was observed in all water samples (7–180 ng/L βNF EQ), although there was no consistent pattern in the level of AhR activity observed, i.e., ‘clean’ sites were as likely to return a high AhR activity response as urban or wastewater treatment plant (WWTP)-impacted sites. There was no correlation between measurements of receptor actvity and gonopodial length (GL):BL ratio and BL. We conclude that the mosquitofish gonopodia only fulfills part of the criteria for biomarker selection for screening. The mosquitofish indices assessed were cheap and easy-to-perform procedures; however, there is no baseline data from the selected sites to evaluate whether differences in the morpholical indices observed at a site were a result of natural selection in the population or due to estrogenic exposure.

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Acknowledgments

This study was approved and conducted under RMIT University Animal Ethics Committee Permit AEC 0702. The research was primarily supported by Melbourne Water, but, in part, also by the Department of Primary Industries (Project #s 08160 and 06889), the Australian Research Council (Discovery Grant #DP0343410), and the Victorian Water Trust (Project #33 V-4000), with additional resources from the Centre for Aquatic Pollution, Identification and Management (CAPIM). CAPIM is funded by The Victorian Science Agenda Investment Fund managed by the Department of Business and Innovation (DBI) (www.innovation.vic.gov.au) with partner funding contributed from Melbourne Water, Department of Primary Industries (Victoria) and Environment Protection Authority (Victoria).

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Correspondence to Graeme Allinson.

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Chinathamby, K., Allinson, M., Shiraishi, F. et al. Screening for potential effects of endocrine-disrupting chemicals in peri-urban creeks and rivers in Melbourne, Australia using mosquitofish and recombinant receptor–reporter gene assays. Environ Sci Pollut Res 20, 1831–1841 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-012-1188-2

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