Exposure to bleached kraft pulp mill effluent disrupts the pituitary-gonadal axis of white sucker at multiple sites

Journal Article · Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 1992 · Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/0041-008X(92)90327-O· OSTI ID:7260108

Van Der Kraak, G J; Munkittrick, K R; McMaster, M E; Portt, C B; Chang, J P ^[1]

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1. Department of Zoology, University of Guelph, Ontario (Canada)

Recent studies have demonstrated reproductive problems in white sucker (Catostomus commersoni) exposed to bleached kraft pulp mill effluent (BKME) at Jackfish Bay on Lake Superior. These fish exhibit delayed sexual maturity, reduced gonadal size, reduced secondary sexual characteristics, and circulating steroid levels depressed relative to those of reference populations. The present studies were designed to evaluate sites in the pituitary-gonadal axis of prespawning white sucker affected by BKME exposure. At the time of entry to the spawning stream, plasma levels of immunoreactive gonadotropin (GtH)-II (LH-type GtH) in male and female white sucker were 30- and 50-fold lower, respectively, than the levels in fish from a reference site. A single intraperitoneal injection of D-Arg6, Pro9N-Et sGnRH (sGnRH-A, 0.1 mg/kg) increased plasma GtH levels in male and female fish at both sites, although the magnitude of the response was greatly reduced in BKME-exposed fish. Fish at the BKME site did not ovulate in response to sGnRH-A, while 10 of 10 fish from the reference site ovulated within 6 hr. Plasma 17 alpha,20 beta-dihydroxy-4-pregnen-3-one (17,20 beta-P) levels were depressed in BKME-exposed fish and unlike fish at the reference site, failed to increase in response to sGnRH-A. Testosterone levels in both sexes and 11-ketostestosterone levels in males were elevated in fish from the reference site but were not further increased by GnRH treatment. In contrast, BKME-exposed fish exhibit a transitory increase in testosterone levels in response to the GnRH analog. In vitro incubations of ovarian follicles obtained from fish at the BKME site revealed depressed basal secretion of testosterone and 17,20 beta-P and reduced responsiveness to the GtH analog human chorionic gonadotropin and to forskolin, a direct activator of adenylate cyclase.

• OSTI ID: 7260108
• Journal Information: Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology; (United States), Vol. 115:2; ISSN 0041-008X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
CHEMICAL EFFLUENTS
TOXICITY
FISHES
SENSITIVITY
GONADOTROPINS
BIOSYNTHESIS
CANADA
ENZYME INHIBITORS
GONADS
IN VITRO
LAKE SUPERIOR
OVULATION
PAPER INDUSTRY
PITUITARY GLAND
TESTOSTERONE
WATER POLLUTION
ANDROGENS
ANDROSTANES
ANIMALS
AQUATIC ORGANISMS
BODY
CHEMICAL WASTES
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
ENDOCRINE GLANDS
GLANDS
GREAT LAKES
HORMONES
HYDROXY COMPOUNDS
INDUSTRY
KETONES
LAKES
NONRADIOACTIVE WASTES
NORTH AMERICA
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANS
PEPTIDE HORMONES
PITUITARY HORMONES
POLLUTION
PROTEINS
STEROID HORMONES
STEROIDS
SURFACE WATERS
SYNTHESIS
VERTEBRATES
WASTES
WOOD PRODUCTS INDUSTRY
560300* - Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology
540320 - Environment
Aquatic- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (1990-)