Meeting Abstract
Inorganic arsenic is a common environmental toxin found in many ground and surface water resources around the world. Recent evidence suggests that arsenic disrupts estrogenic pathways and may affect reproductive health in rodent and human systems. However, little is known regarding how arsenic may effect estrogen-dependent reproduction in non-mammalian systems. Because aquatic vertebrate populations, in particular, may be exposed to inorganic arsenic in surface water, understanding the effects of arsenic on reproductive measures may be important to both water and wildlife management. For this study, 60 adult female and 38 adult male Xenopus tropicalis were exposed to environmentally relevant concentrations of sodium arsenite at 0, 0.1, and 1.0 uM for 14 days. Tissues were collected and analyzed for effects on organ morphology. Although the exposure had no effect on the males, we observed significant outcomes in estrogen-sensitive tissues in exposed females. Arsenic exposure had little effect on most non-reproductive endpoints, but there was a significant decrease in both oviduct/ovary weight and oocyte diameter suggesting that environmentally relevant exposure to arsenic may affect female reproduction in aquatic vertebrates possibly through disruption of estrogen signaling processes. Our results suggest that monitoring of aquatic vertebrates in regions of high arsenic concentrations, whether from naturally occurring resources or from point or non-point pollution sources, could provide information regarding reproductive health of exposed populations.
