Toxicology Unit, Veterinary School (UEx), E-10071 Cáceres, Spain.
Comp Biochem Physiol C Toxicol Pharmacol. 2012 Nov;156(3-4):159-65. doi: 10.1016/j.cbpc.2012.07.006. Epub 2012 Jul 31.
The widely used herbicide atrazine (ATZ) has been reported to exhibit reproductive toxicity in rats, fish and amphibians, with an avian LD(50) of 5000 mg/kg. In the present work, ATZ was administered as a single oral dose of 25 or 100 mg/kg to female European quail (Coturnix coturnix coturnix) at days 0, 5 and 10 of the experiment, being the animals sampled at days 15, 30 and 45. ATZ significantly increased the expression of hepatic estrogen receptor α (ERα) at both doses at day 30. An important increase was also observed in plasma 17β-estradiol (E2) concentrations. ATZ at 100 mg/kg increased the circulating concentration of vitellogenin (Vtg), but this effect was not related with an increase in hepatic Vtg mRNA levels. ATZ had no effect on the hepatic expression of both cytochrome P450 1A4 (CYP1A4) or the related biotransformation activity ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD). These results led to the conclusion that ATZ provokes an estrogenic effect in sexually mature females of European quail. Further studies are necessary to establish the effect on sexual development or reproduction of female and male birds in the wild.
广泛使用的除草剂莠去津（ATZ）已被报道在大鼠、鱼类和两栖类动物中具有生殖毒性，鸟类 LD（50）为 5000mg/kg。在本工作中，ATZ 以 25 或 100mg/kg 的单次口服剂量给予实验第 0、5 和 10 天的雌性欧洲鹌鹑（Coturnix coturnix coturnix），在第 15、30 和 45 天采样。ATZ 在第 30 天在两个剂量下均显著增加了肝雌激素受体 α（ERα）的表达。还观察到血浆 17β-雌二醇（E2）浓度的重要增加。ATZ 以 100mg/kg 增加了卵黄蛋白原（Vtg）的循环浓度，但这种作用与肝 Vtg mRNA 水平的增加无关。ATZ 对肝细胞色素 P450 1A4（CYP1A4）或相关生物转化活性乙氧基 RESO 脱乙基酶（EROD）的表达均无影响。这些结果表明 ATZ 引起性成熟雌性欧洲鹌鹑的雌激素效应。需要进一步研究以确定野生雌性和雄性鸟类的性发育或繁殖的影响。
