Endocrine disruption in a terrestrial isopod under exposure to bisphenol A and vinclozolin

Abstract

Background, aim, and scope In the past decade there has been an increasing awareness about the possible consequences of human and wildlife exposure to endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs). Bisphenol A (BPA) and vinclozolin (Vz) are EDCs which impacts on vertebrates have been largely investigated. Nevertheless, research on invertebrate effects, especially on soil organisms, are still largely underrepresented. This work aims to extend the limited ecotoxicological datasets available and to provide tools to assess the effects of EDCs on the terrestrial species, using Porcellio scaber (Crustacea: Isopoda) as a model organism. Materials and methods Male adult isopods were exposed for 10 weeks to BPA and Ronilan® [containing 50% Vz as active ingredient (a.i.)] at concentrations of 10, 30, 100, 300, and 1,000 mg a.i./kg of soil and compared to nonexposed isopods. We studied the effects of these EDCs on molting and total ecdysteroid (20E) concentration. Young, sexually undifferentiated isopods were also exposed to these compounds (Vz, 5, 10, 25, 50, and 100 mg a.i./kg of soil; and BPA, 10, 25, 50, 150, and 300 mg/kg of soil) for 16 weeks and effects on sex ratio were assessed.

A study on temporal trends and estimates of fate of Bisphenol A in agricultural soils after sewage sludge amendment

“…In Study 1 (Glensaugh short-term trial, Figure 1 . Such data suggests that wet or dry deposition could be an important source of the BPA detected in surface soil samples in addition to the primary source of land application of sewage sludge [Kang et al, 2006;Bailey and Hoekstra, 2010;Lemos et al, 2009;Flint et al, 2012]. Such findings indicate that background concentrations of BPA in soils not associated with direct inputs of BPA containing material (e.g the control soils in this study) may have a rather ubiquitous level of contamination and that inputs from the atmosphere are ongoing.…”

Fungicides as Endocrine Disrupters in Non-Target Organisms

“…Nevertheless, some authors agree that the hormonal impacts of TBT and EDCs in general may differ according to the specific life stage at which exposure occurs (e.g., embryolarval stages, gonadal development, etc.) (deFur et al, 1999;Lemos et al, 2009). Generally, the larvae/neonates of any tested species are more hormonally sensitive to tributyltin exposure than are the adults.…”

“…Nevertheless, despite the findings and the known hormonal regulation of the molting process, it has been argued whether these effects are due to endocrine disruption rather than regular systemic toxicity. Unless specific parameters such as hormone levels are assessed no accurate conclusion can be drawn (Barata et al, 2004;Lemos et al 2009).…”

“…)/kg (assuming that 70 % of the fungicide will reach the surface and is homogeneously distributed over the top 5 cm soil layer and the soil bulk density is 1.4 kg/dm 3 ) (Lemos et al, 2009). Vinclozolin has a low to moderate persistence in soil, with reported half-lives from 28-43 days in the laboratory up to 34-94 days in the field and 6-12% of the original compound is present after 1 year (U.S. EPA, 1991;IUPAC, 2006).…”

“…These are perhaps the most complete examples of ED studies in wildlife populations. Further examples for ED in invertebrates are scarce and limited to laboratory studies, where effects on endocrine regulated processes in marine and freshwater invertebrates (Porte et al, 2006), and in the soil compartment have been demonstrated for some compounds (Lemos et al, 2009(Lemos et al, , 2010a(Lemos et al, , 2010b(Lemos et al, , 2010c. Endocrine changes following exposure to certain compounds may therefore be missed or simply be immeasurable at present, even though there is increasing evidence indicating that invertebrates are susceptible to ED (Porte et al, 2006).…”