Physiological and reproductive disorders of the Baltic amphipods Gmelinoides fasciatus exposed to 4-tert-Octylphenol
N. A. Berezina1, N. M. Sukhikh1, A. V. Egorova2, Z. A. Zhakovskaya2
1Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Saint Petersburg, Russia
2St. Petersburg Federal Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Keywords: amphipods, rate of oxygen consumption, reproduction, state of embryos, morphological structures, gnatopods, alkylphenols, xenoestrogens, Gulf of Finland
Abstract
The industrial chemicals alkylphenols are xenoestrogens, but the sublethal effects of these substances on aquatic animals are poorly studied. The aim of this work was to study possible metabolic and reproductive disorders in amphipods, on the example of the species Gmelinoides fasciatus from the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, after experimental exposure to 4- tert -octylphenol (4t-OP) from the group of alkylphenols. The mortality of G. fasciatus amphipods in the 4t-OP concentration range from 0.5 to 1000 μg/L after 96 hours and 7 days increased with increasing concentration. It was absent at 4t-OP concentrations of 0.5 and 5 μg/L. At a concentration of 4t-OP of 20 μg/L, after 7 days, the mortality of crustaceans was 20 %, and at its concentration of 100 μg/L, it was 60 %. When exposed to sublethal concentrations of 4t-OP (0.5 μg/L), these amphipods showed a decrease in sexual activity after one week of amphipods: only 25 % of amphipods retained precopulatory pairs versus 100 % in control. Under chronic exposure (28 days) to the lowest concentration, males showed signs of demasculinization (decrease in the width of the gnathopods and an increase in the depth of the coxal plates); females showed a decrease in the overall fecundity and irreversible disturbances in state of embryos, namely, a high proportion (>50 %) of embryos that stopped their development at different stages of organogenesis. The conducted study shows significant functional disorders of metabolic processes and reproduction in crustaceans even when exposed to non-lethal concentrations of octylphenol. These results confirm the high toxicity of this industrial pollutant, the presence of which in the aquatic environment can lead to irreversible changes in the biota.
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