1
|
Salla RF, Costa MJ, Abdalla FC, Oliveira CR, Tsukada E, Boeing GANS, Prado J, Carvalho T, Ribeiro LP, Rebouças R, Toledo LF. Estrogen contamination increases vulnerability of amphibians to the deadly chytrid fungus. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 917:170337. [PMID: 38301782 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.170337] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2023] [Revised: 12/31/2023] [Accepted: 01/19/2024] [Indexed: 02/03/2024]
Abstract
Aquatic contaminants and infectious diseases are among the major drivers of global amphibian declines. However, the interaction of these factors is poorly explored and could better explain the amphibian crisis. We exposed males and females of the Brazilian Cururu Toad, Rhinella icterica, to an environmentally relevant concentration of the estrogen 17-alpha-ethinylestradiol (an emerging contaminant) and to the chytrid infection (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis), in their combined and isolated forms, and the ecotoxicity was determined by multiple biomarkers: cutaneous, hematological, cardiac, hepatic, and gonadal analysis. Our results showed that Cururu toads had many physiological alterations in response to the chytrid infection, including the appearance of cutaneous Langerhans's cells, increased blood leukocytes, increased heart contraction force and tachycardia, increased hepatic melanomacrophage cells, which in turn led to gonadal atrophy. The estrogen, in turn, increased the susceptibility of the toads to the chytrid infection (higher Bd loads) and maximized the deleterious effects of the pathogen: reducing leukocytes, decreasing the contraction force, and causing greater tachycardia, increasing hepatic melanomacrophage cells, and leading to greater gonadal atrophy, which were more extreme in females. The exposure to estrogen also revealed important toxicodynamic pathways of this toxicant, as shown by the immunosuppression of exposed animals, and the induction of the first stages of feminization in males, which corroborates that the synthetic estrogen acts as an endocrine disruptor. Such an intricate relationship is unprecedented and reinforces the importance of studying the serious consequences that multiple environmental stressors can cause to aquatic populations.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Raquel F Salla
- Laboratório de História Natural de Anfíbios Brasileiros (LaHNAB), Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp), Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil; Programa de Pós-graduação em Biotecnologia e Monitoramento Ambiental (PPGBMA), Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Sorocaba, São Paulo, Brazil.
| | - Monica Jones Costa
- Programa de Pós-graduação em Biotecnologia e Monitoramento Ambiental (PPGBMA), Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Sorocaba, São Paulo, Brazil; Laboratório de Fisiologia da Conservação (LaFisC), Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Sorocaba, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Fabio Camargo Abdalla
- Programa de Pós-graduação em Biotecnologia e Monitoramento Ambiental (PPGBMA), Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Sorocaba, São Paulo, Brazil; Laboratório de Biologia Estrutural e Funcional (LaBEF), Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Sorocaba, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Cristiane R Oliveira
- Programa de Pós-graduação em Biotecnologia e Monitoramento Ambiental (PPGBMA), Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Sorocaba, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Elisabete Tsukada
- Programa de Pós-graduação em Biotecnologia e Monitoramento Ambiental (PPGBMA), Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Sorocaba, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Guilherme Andrade Neto Schmitz Boeing
- Programa de Pós-graduação em Biotecnologia e Monitoramento Ambiental (PPGBMA), Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Sorocaba, São Paulo, Brazil; Laboratório de Biologia Estrutural e Funcional (LaBEF), Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Sorocaba, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Joelma Prado
- Laboratório de História Natural de Anfíbios Brasileiros (LaHNAB), Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp), Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Tamilie Carvalho
- Laboratório de História Natural de Anfíbios Brasileiros (LaHNAB), Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp), Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - Luisa P Ribeiro
- Laboratório de História Natural de Anfíbios Brasileiros (LaHNAB), Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp), Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Raoni Rebouças
- Laboratório de História Natural de Anfíbios Brasileiros (LaHNAB), Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp), Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Luís Felipe Toledo
- Laboratório de História Natural de Anfíbios Brasileiros (LaHNAB), Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp), Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Daam MA, Moutinho MF, Espíndola ELG, Schiesari L. Lethal toxicity of the herbicides acetochlor, ametryn, glyphosate and metribuzin to tropical frog larvae. ECOTOXICOLOGY (LONDON, ENGLAND) 2019; 28:707-715. [PMID: 31250286 DOI: 10.1007/s10646-019-02067-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/04/2019] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Despite the high amphibian biodiversity and increasing pesticide use in tropical countries, knowledge on the sensitivity of tropical amphibians to pesticides remains limited. The aim of this study was to evaluate the acute toxicity of the active ingredients of four of the main herbicides used in Brazilian sugarcane production to tadpoles of two tropical frog species: Physalaemus cuvieri and Hypsiboas pardalis. The calculated 96 h-LC50 (median lethal concentration; in mg a.s./L) values for P. cuvieri and H. pardalis were 4.4 and 7.8 (acetochlor); 15 and <10 (ametryn); 115 and 106 (glyphosate); and 85 and 68 (metribuzin), respectively. These toxicity values demonstrated little interspecies variation and the toxicity of the herbicides appeared to be at least partly related with the respective octanol-water coefficient. Published acute toxicity data of fish and amphibians for herbicides were also compiled from the US-EPA ECOTOX database. These data indicated little difference in herbicide sensitivity between tropical amphibians and both non-tropical amphibians and fish. These findings indicate that temperate (fish and amphibian) herbicide toxicity data are also protective for tropical amphibians. Constraints in such extrapolations and indications for future research are discussed.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Michiel A Daam
- CENSE, Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, New University of Lisbon, Quinta da Torre, 2829-516, Caparica, Portugal
| | - Mariana F Moutinho
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Evaldo L G Espíndola
- NEEA/CRHEA/SHS, São Carlos Engineering School, University of São Paulo, Av. Trabalhador São Carlense, 400, São Carlos, 13.560-970, Brazil
| | - Luis Schiesari
- Escola de Artes, Ciências e Humanidades, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Slaby S, Marin M, Marchand G, Lemiere S. Exposures to chemical contaminants: What can we learn from reproduction and development endpoints in the amphibian toxicology literature? ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION (BARKING, ESSEX : 1987) 2019; 248:478-495. [PMID: 30831345 DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2019.02.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2018] [Revised: 01/09/2019] [Accepted: 02/04/2019] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Environmental contamination is one of the major factors or cofactors affecting amphibian populations. Since 2000, the number of studies conducted in laboratory conditions to understand impacts of chemical exposures increased. They aimed to characterize biological effects on amphibians. This review proposes an overview of biological responses reported after exposures to metals, phytopharmaceuticals or emerging organic contaminants and focuses on endpoints relating to reproduction and development. Due to amphibian peculiar features, these periods of their life cycle are especially critical to pollutant exposures. Despite the large range of tested compounds, the same model species are often used as biological models and morphological alterations are the most studied observations. From the results, the laboratory-to-field extrapolation remained uneasy and exposure designs have to be more elaborated to be closer to environmental conditions. Few studies proposed such experimental approaches. Lastly, gametes, embryos and larvae constitute key stages of amphibian life cycle that can be harmed by exposures to freshwater pollutants. Specific efforts have to be intensified on the earliest stages and notably germ cells.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sylvain Slaby
- Univ. Lille, CNRS, INRA, UMR 8576, UGSF, Unité de Glycobiologie Structurale et Fonctionnelle, F-59000, Lille, France; Univ. Lille, EA 4515 - LGCgE - Laboratoire Génie Civil et Géo-Environnement, Cité Scientifique, SN3, F-59655, Villeneuve D'Ascq, France
| | - Matthieu Marin
- Univ. Lille, CNRS, INRA, UMR 8576, UGSF, Unité de Glycobiologie Structurale et Fonctionnelle, F-59000, Lille, France
| | - Guillaume Marchand
- Univ. Lille, CNRS, INRA, UMR 8576, UGSF, Unité de Glycobiologie Structurale et Fonctionnelle, F-59000, Lille, France
| | - Sébastien Lemiere
- Univ. Lille, EA 4515 - LGCgE - Laboratoire Génie Civil et Géo-Environnement, Cité Scientifique, SN3, F-59655, Villeneuve D'Ascq, France.
| |
Collapse
|