Feminizing effects of ethinylestradiol in roach (Rutilus rutilus) populations with different estrogenic pollution exposure histories

Hamilton, Patrick B.; Baynes, Alice; Nicol, Elizabeth; Harris, Graham P.; Webster, Tamsyn M. Uren; Beresford, Nicola; Straszkiewicz, Marta; Jobling, Susan; Tyler, Charles R.

doi:10.1016/j.aquatox.2022.106229

Cited by 4 publications

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References 61 publications

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“…Roach are a European native gonochoristic freshwater fish species, common to lowland rivers in England, found in abundance in waters enriched by sewage discharges. In the United Kingdom and Europe, roach have been utilized for endocrine disruption assessments, both in the wild and under experimental conditions, for several decades. ,,,, We specifically designed the study to allow us to directly compare contemporary and historical levels of endocrine disruption in roach in rivers by revisiting sites sampled in the late 1990s and early 2000s , where historically intersex was measured in roach (to varying degrees). With the advent of new molecular methods to determine the genetic sex of roach, we also looked to confirm the hypothesis that wild intersex roach in these English rivers are feminized males (rather than masculinized females) and to assess the frequency of possible complete sex reversal in these wild fish.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Endocrine Disruption Is Reduced but Still Widespread in Wild Roach (Rutilus rutilus) Living in English Rivers

Baynes,

Lange,

Beresford

et al. 2023

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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Endocrine disruption of wild fish, primarily resulting in the feminization of males, has been reported in English river sites for several decades. Estrogenic activity emanating from wastewater treatment works (WwTW) has been conclusively demonstrated to be the main driver of these feminized phenotypes. Here, we revisit 10 English river sites previously surveyed in the late 1990s and early 2000s to assess how the frequency and severity of feminization now compare with the historical surveys. In the contemporary assessment, 60% of the sites revisited still showed endocrine disruption at the tissue organization level (oocytes present in otherwise male gonads; intersex) and 90% of sites had average male plasma vitellogenin concentrations (female-specific yolk protein; a sensitive biomarker of estrogen exposure) above natural baseline levels. In contrast to the historic surveys, none of the males sampled in the contemporary survey had ovarian cavities. At one of the larger WwTW, improvements to treatment technology may have driven a significant reduction in intersex induction, whereas at several of the smaller WwTW sites, the frequencies of feminization did not differ from those observed in the late 1990s. In conclusion, we show that although the severity of feminization is now reduced at many of the revisited sites, endocrine-disrupting chemicals are still impacting wild fish living downstream of WwTW in England.

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