Estrogens in Marine Invertebrates

Abstract

Material with estrogenic activity demonstrable by bioassay in rodents has been found in marine invertebrate tissues. Steidle (1930), using a mouse bioassay, found traces of estrogens in a sea urchin, Echinus iniliaris, three molluscs, Aplysia, Octopus and Eledone, as well as in certain worms and arthropods. Similarly Schwerdtfeger (1932) found estrogens in a sea anemone, Actinia aquina, but none in the mollusc Chiton marginatus. Donahue (1940) reported small amounts of estrogenically active material to be present in extracts of the Bermuda urchin, Lyt echinus varicgatus, the reef urchin, Echinometria, a holothurian, Stichopns mobii, and a lobster, Palinurus argus. More recently, this same author (Donahue, 1948) made extracts of the shed eggs of another lobster, Homarus americanus, purified them by solvent partition, and made estrogen analyses by a fluorometric method. In this way he found 100 international units of estrogen per 100 gm. eggs.Gordon and Villee ( 1956) have described an enzymatic assay for estrogens, w r hich is as sensitive as the fluorometric methods now available. Their assay depends upon the fact that human placenta contains a DPN(diphosphopyridine nucleotide) -linked isocitric dehydrogenase which catalyzes the reaction. isocitrate + DPN ^ a-ketoglutarate + DPNH + CO 2 and which is specifically activated by certain natural estrogens. In a limited range

Progesterone and oestrone levels in the gonads and pyloric caeca of the male sea star Asterias rubens: A comparison with the corresponding levels in the female sea star

“…Dieleman and Schoenmakers (1979) demonstrated by radioimmunoassay (RIA) the presence of progesterone and oestrone in these organs in agreement with earlier reports on the presence of progesterone (Botticelli et al, 1960(Botticelli et al, , 1961Ikegami et al, 1971) and of substances with oestrogen-like activity based on bioassays (Steidle, 1930;Donahue, 1940;Hagerman et al, 1957;Botticelli et al, 1960Botticelli et al, , 1961 in the ovaries of other echinoderms.…”

Substances With Juvenile Hormone Activity in Crustacea and Other Invertebrates

“…Hence, it seems safe to conclude that substances with juvenile hormone activity are widespread in the animal kingdom. As far as we are aware, the only other animal growth hormones of such wide distribution are the estrogens (Loewe et al, 1932;Hagerman et al, 1957).…”

Radioimmunoassays to determine the presence of progesterone and estrone in the starfish Asterias rubens

“…The starfish Asterias rubens is known to synthesize steroids in ovaries and pyloric ceca (Schoenmakers, 1977(Schoenmakers, , 1979a and steroid synthesizing cells have been observed in the ovaries (Schoenmakers et al, 1977); determining the presence of endogenous steroids would confirm the results obtained hitherto and might provide conclusive evidence for steroidogenesis in Asterias rubens. tcrone and estrogens in echinoderms has remained scarce and was mainly obtained by physicochemical and bioassay techniques applied to the extracts of pooled gonads from a number of animals (Steidle, 1930;Donahue, 1940;Hagerman et al, 1957;Botticelli et al, 1960Botticelli et al, , 1961Ikegami et al, 1971). No information was available on the presence of steroids in ovaries, pyloric ceca, and perivisceral fluid of Asterias rubens,…”

“…Steidle (1930), using a mouse bioassay, reported traces of estrogen-like activity in the sea urchin Psammechinus miliaris. Donahue (1940) found small amounts of Hagerman et al (1957), using an enzymatic assay, reported that the ovaries of the starfish Aster& forbesi and of the sea urchins Arbuciu punctulutu and Strongylocentrotus droebuchiensis contain minor amounts of estrogens. Botticelli et al (1960Botticelli et al ( , 1961) identified estradiol-17/3 in the ovaries of P&aster ochruceus and Strongylocentrotus franciscanus after extracting pooled ovaries of a large number of animals followed by countercurrent distribution, paper chromatography, and bioassay.…”

“…Also in other phyla of invertebrates, material with estrogen-like activity was reported by several authors with similar methods. Preparations with estrogen-like activity were obtained from Coelenterata (Schwerdtfeger, 1932), Annelida (Steidle, 1930), Arthropoda (Steidle, 1930;Donahue, 1940Donahue, , 1948Hagerman et al, 1957;Lisk, 1961;Gottfried et al, 1967). De Longcamp et al (1974), using RIA, found indications for the presence of estrogens in the gonad of Mytilus edulis.…”