Guillette L J
Department of Zoology, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA.
Growth Horm IGF Res. 2000 Apr;10 Suppl B:S45-50. doi: 10.1016/s1096-6374(00)80009-x.
Environmental contaminants have posed a threat to the health of wildlife since the onset of the industrial age. Over the last four decades, much concern has focused on the lethal, carcinogenic and/or extreme teratogenic manifestations of environmental pollution. During the last decade, evidence suggests that the disruption of normal endocrine signalling by environmental contaminants is a mechanism that must also be examined. Man-made chemicals, known as xenochemicals, released into the environment can act as hormone agonists or antagonists and thereby disrupt hormone synthesis, action and metabolism, that is, act as endocrine-disrupting contaminants. Our recent studies show that reptiles living in contaminated environments exhibit: (1) population declines due to the lethal and reproductive effects of the contaminants on embryos, juveniles or adults; (2) developmental abnormalities of embryos, including subtle effects in the reproductive system of alligators; and (3) abnormalities of the endocrine system. Numerous studies now demonstrate that any environmental pollutant that disrupts the normal steroid milieu of the developing embryo will have significant lifelong consequences on sex determination and on the organization and function of the reproductive and endocrine systems.
自工业时代开始以来，环境污染物就对野生动物的健康构成了威胁。在过去的四十年里，人们的许多担忧都集中在环境污染的致死、致癌和/或极端致畸表现上。在过去十年中，有证据表明，环境污染物对正常内分泌信号的干扰也是一种必须加以研究的机制。释放到环境中的人造化学物质，即所谓的异源化学物质，可以充当激素激动剂或拮抗剂，从而干扰激素的合成、作用和代谢，也就是说，充当内分泌干扰污染物。我们最近的研究表明，生活在受污染环境中的爬行动物表现出：（1）由于污染物对胚胎、幼体或成体的致死和生殖影响，种群数量下降；（2）胚胎发育异常，包括对短吻鳄生殖系统的细微影响；（3）内分泌系统异常。现在大量研究表明，任何破坏发育中胚胎正常类固醇环境的环境污染物都会对性别决定以及生殖和内分泌系统的组织与功能产生重大的终身影响。
