Abstract
The effects of testosterone and flutamide on reproduction in Brachionus calyciflorus were studied. Asexual reproduction in B. calyciflorus was not affected by testosterone at different concentrations of flutamide. Flutamide in combination with 0, 25, 50, or 75 µg L−1 testosterone had a significant effect on mixis rate. The combination of 5 µg L−1 flutamide with 25 µg L−1 or 50 µg L−1 testosterone resulted in a mixis rate that was 2.2× lower than that with flutamide alone. Fertilization rate was significantly decreased by 7.5 µg L−1 flutamide in combination with 25, 50, or 75 µg L−1 testosterone. The number of resting eggs produced per mictic female was significantly lower at all concentrations of testosterone. A low concentration of flutamide in combination with testosterone resulted in antagonism, increasing the number of resting eggs produced. However, when testosterone was combined with a higher concentration of flutamide, resting egg production declined. Therefore, long-term exposure to either testosterone, flutamide, or a combination of these two compounds may significantly reduce resting egg production in rotifers. This implies that resting egg production is affected differently by hormone pathways.
Highlights
Anthropogenic chemicals with the potential to perturb the function of endocrine systems are called endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs)
With the addition of 2.5 μg L−1 flutamide, the population growth rate was significantly decreased with increases in the concentration of testosterone (F3,16 = 107.55, p = 0.000)
Flutamide concentrations of 5.0 and 7.5 μg L−1 added to the different concentrations of testosterone significantly affected the population growth rate (F3,16 = 27.36, p = 0.000, F3,16 = 114.88, p = 0.000, respectively)
Summary
Anthropogenic chemicals with the potential to perturb the function of endocrine systems are called endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). Previous studies have demonstrated that some anthropogenic chemicals can disrupt normal hormonal communication, producing harmful effects on reproduction in a wide variety of animals, including rotifers[2,3,4]. Results were compared to a variety of acute and sublethal endpoints for both toxicants[9], and mixis rate and hatchability of resting eggs for the detection of the effects of pesticide exposure[14]. Rotifer is one of the promising tools for the assessment of the impact of potential endocrine disruptors on aquatic invertebrates[21] Many of these previous studies have only investigated the limited effects of single hormones in isolation on rotifer reproduction. Testosterone (an androgen) and flutamide (an anti-androgen) were selected to test the hypothesis that these chemicals would have antagonistic effects on rotifer reproduction. The effects of testosterone in the presence of different concentrations of flutamide on B. calyciflorus reproduction was investigated
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