Meeting Abstract
5.3 Tuesday, Jan. 4 Disrupted Stress Endocrine Axis in Wild Fish from Polluted California Marine Environments. Characterization Studies CAUSEY, Dwight R*; REYES, Jesus A; WAGGONER, Claire M; HAMILTON, Andrew W; ARMSTRONG, Jeffrey L; KELLEY, Kevin M; California State University, Long Beach (CSULB); Pacific Coast Environmental Conservancy; CSULB; CSULB; Orange County Sanitation District; CSULB dcausey@csulb.edu
Over the past several years, studies in the Southern California Bight (SCB) and San Francisco Bay (SFB) have demonstrated that wild fish residing in contaminated locations exhibit a form of endocrine disruption that involves the stress and metabolic hormone, cortisol, and which is associated with alterations in physiological performance indices relating to growth and defense. The disruption effect is observed as an inability of a fish to activate a normal neuroendocrine response to stress (which should lead to increased cortisol secretion), and has been detected in several different species, including English sole, hornyhead turbot, and California scorpionfish in the SCB, and Pacific staghorn sculpin and shiner surfperch in SFB. In both regions, exposures of the fish to certain kinds of pollutants, such as DDT metabolites and some PAHs, is significantly correlated, pointing to candidate endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) present in these environments. In addition, potential target genes of EDCs as well as protein expression are under investigation. In one line of studies, mRNA expression of cortisol biosynthetic enzymes in the interrenal tissues was found to be significantly depressed in impacted fish, including for steroidogenesis-activation regulator (StAR) and P450-11β hydroxylase. Using a proteomics approach, on the other hand, differences in expressed proteins in interrenal and liver are beginning to elucidate potential underlying mechanisms of the endocrine disruption. The potential roles of these proteins will be discussed in relation to the endocrine disruption condition (NOAA-USC Sea Grant, San Francisco Estuary Institute).
