Rainwater Thomas R, Selcer Kyle W, Nespoli Lisa M, Finger Adam G, Ray David A, Platt Steven G, Smith Philip N, Densmore Llewellyn D, Anderson Todd A, McMurry Scott T
The Institute of Environmental and Human Health and Department of Environmental Toxicology, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409-1163, USA.
Environ Pollut. 2008 May;153(1):101-9. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2007.07.018. Epub 2007 Sep 10.
Vitellogenin induction has been widely used as a biomarker of endocrine disruption in wildlife, but few studies have investigated its use in wild reptiles living in contaminated habitats. This study examined vitellogenin induction in Morelet's crocodiles (Crocodylus moreletii) from wetlands in northern Belize contaminated with organochlorine (OC) pesticides. Vitellogenin was measured in 381 crocodile plasma samples using a vitellogenin ELISA previously developed for this species. Vitellogenin was detected in nine samples, all from adult females sampled during the breeding season. Males and juvenile females did not contain detectable levels of vitellogenin; however, many of these animals contained OC pesticides in their caudal scutes, confirming contaminant exposure. The lack of a vitellogenic response in these animals may be attributable to several factors related to the timing and magnitude of exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals and should not be interpreted as an absence of other contaminant-induced biological responses.
卵黄蛋白原诱导已被广泛用作野生动物内分泌干扰的生物标志物，但很少有研究调查其在生活于受污染栖息地的野生爬行动物中的应用。本研究检测了来自伯利兹北部受有机氯（OC）农药污染湿地的莫雷莱鳄（Crocodylus moreletii）的卵黄蛋白原诱导情况。使用先前为该物种开发的卵黄蛋白原酶联免疫吸附测定法（ELISA），对381份鳄鱼血浆样本中的卵黄蛋白原进行了测量。在9份样本中检测到了卵黄蛋白原，所有样本均来自繁殖季节采集的成年雌性鳄鱼。雄性和幼年雌性鳄鱼体内未检测到可检测水平的卵黄蛋白原；然而，这些动物中的许多在尾盾中含有OC农药，证实了它们接触过污染物。这些动物缺乏卵黄生成反应可能归因于与接触内分泌干扰化学物质的时间和程度相关的几个因素，不应将其解释为不存在其他污染物诱导的生物学反应。
