Availability of in vitro vitellogenin assay for screening of estrogenic and anti-estrogenic activities of environmental chemicals.

Vitellogenin (VTG) protein, VTG mRNA, other egg yolk proteins, vitelline envelope proteins and their mRNAs are produced in the liver of oviparous species by stimulation of endogenous estrogen and exogenous estrogenic chemicals. The VTG assay based on enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) has been widely used for many fish species to screen estrogenic and anti-estrogenic activities of chemicals and sewage effluents using immature fish and/or male fish. In order to reduce the number of fish for screening of estrogenicity and anti-estrogenicity of chemicals, primary cultured fish hepatocytes can be used. In fact, primary cultured hepatocytes have been successfully used for the detection of estrogenic and anti-estrogenic activities of environmental chemicals in selected OECD fish species, e.g., medaka (Oryzias latipes) and rainbow trout (Oncorhynchys mykiss) together with other fish species such as Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.), Siberian sturgeon (Acipenser baeri), tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus), carp (Cyprinus carpio), bream (Abramis brama), Carassius auratus, silver eel (Anguilla anguilla L.), and channel catfish (Ictalurus punctanus). In terms of hepatocyte assays relating to other taxa, these include frogs such as Xenopus laevis and the common green frog (Rana esculenta), chickens (Gallus domesticus) and herring gulls (Larus argentatus). VTG mRNA measurement by quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction has also been successfully applied in the primary cultured hepatocytes of various species.