University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, USA.
Environ Toxicol Chem. 2012 Dec;31(12):2701-10. doi: 10.1002/etc.2006. Epub 2012 Oct 10.
Treated wastewater effluent containing endocrine-disrupting chemicals is discharged into the coastal waters of the Southern California Bight (SCB) daily. The present study investigated changes in indicators of reproductive health and environmental estrogen exposure in hornyhead turbot (Pleuronichthys verticalis) near wastewater outfalls. Fish were collected from discharge areas, farfield stations, and a reference location in the SCB to examine spatial and temporal patterns. Fish from the Orange County outfall farfield site were younger and less sexually mature than fish from other sites. The sex ratio was skewed in some fish from outfall sites as well as from the Dana Point reference site. However, no consistent pattern in sex ratio was present over time. Low-level induction of vitellogenin was frequently observed in male fish from all sites, suggesting widespread exposure to estrogenic compounds, but did not appear to impact reproductive function as there was no incidence of gonad abnormalities (ova-testis). Analysis of historical hornyhead turbot trawl data indicated that populations are either increasing or stable in the SCB; thus, environmental estrogen exposure was not adversely impacting fish abundance. Additional research is needed to determine the cause of the estrogenic response in hornyhead turbot and whether the source of the estrogenic compounds is a consequence of historical contamination or of ongoing sources or representative of baseline characteristic of this species.
含有内分泌干扰化学物质的处理废水每天排入南加州海湾（SCB）的沿海水域。本研究调查了在废水排放口附近的 hornyhead 比目鱼（Pleuronichthys verticalis）生殖健康和环境雌激素暴露的指标变化。从排放区、远场站和 SCB 的参考位置采集了鱼类，以检查空间和时间模式。来自奥兰治县排水口远场站点的鱼比其他站点的鱼更年轻，性成熟度更低。一些来自排水口站点和达纳点参考站点的鱼的性别比例也存在偏差。然而，随着时间的推移，性别比例没有出现一致的模式。所有地点的雄性鱼类经常出现低水平的卵黄蛋白原诱导，表明广泛暴露于雌激素化合物，但似乎没有影响生殖功能，因为没有发现性腺异常（卵巢-睾丸）。对 hornyhead 比目鱼的历史拖网数据的分析表明，SCB 中的种群要么在增加，要么保持稳定；因此，环境雌激素暴露并没有对鱼类数量产生不利影响。需要进一步研究 hornyhead 比目鱼中雌激素反应的原因，以及雌激素化合物的来源是历史污染的结果还是持续来源的结果，或者是否代表该物种的基线特征。
