PUBLICATION
Long-term exposure to environmentally relevant doses of methyl-tert-butyl ether causes significant reproductive dysfunction in the zebrafish (Danio rerio)
- Authors
- Moreels, D., Van Cauwenberghe, K., Debaere, B., Rurangwa, E., Vromant, N., Bastiaens, L., Diels, L., Springael, D., Merckx, R., and Ollevier, F.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-060927-2
- Date
- 2006
- Source
- Environmental toxicology and chemistry 25(9): 2388-2393 (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Ollevier, Frans, Rurangwa, Eugène
- Keywords
- none
- MeSH Terms
-
- Animals
- Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
- Drug Administration Schedule
- Female
- Lethal Dose 50
- Male
- Methyl Ethers/administration & dosage*
- Methyl Ethers/metabolism
- Methyl Ethers/toxicity*
- Ovum/drug effects
- Reproduction/drug effects*
- Spermatozoa/drug effects
- Zebrafish
- PubMed
- 16986794 Full text @ Environ. Toxicol. Chem.
Citation
Moreels, D., Van Cauwenberghe, K., Debaere, B., Rurangwa, E., Vromant, N., Bastiaens, L., Diels, L., Springael, D., Merckx, R., and Ollevier, F. (2006) Long-term exposure to environmentally relevant doses of methyl-tert-butyl ether causes significant reproductive dysfunction in the zebrafish (Danio rerio). Environmental toxicology and chemistry. 25(9):2388-2393.
Abstract
Methyl-tert-butyl ether (MTBE), an anthropogenic chemical used as a gasoline additive, is being detected at an increasing frequency in the environment. The acute lethal concentration that kills 50% of the fish test population and the chronic effects of exposure to MTBE were investigated in the zebrafish (Danio rerio). Chronic exposure over three weeks to effective MTBE conceritrations as low as 0.11 mg/L induced a significant increase in the vitellogenin concentration of male fish. The impact of a chronic, eight-week exposure at effective concentrations ranging from 0.44 to 220 mg/L had no significant effect on fecundity, fertilization, or hatch rate but highly significant impacts on sperm motility. Spermatozoa of all MTBE-exposure groups showed a significantly lower straight-line velocity and lower average path velocity compared to those of the nonexposed group. These results suggest that chronic exposure to MTBE negatively affects fish sperm motility at concentrations that are environmentally relevant and several orders of magnitude lower than concentrations inducing acute effects.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping