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American Zoologist

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American Zoologist 40(3):393-401. 2000
doi: 10.1668/0003-1569(2000)040[0393:EDOTSA]2.0.CO;2

Endocrine Disruptors of the Stress Axis in Natural Populations: How Can We Tell?1

David O. Norris2

Department of Environmental, Population and Organismic Biology, Campus Box 334, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0334

David.Norris@Colorado.edu

Synopsis

Often, as environmental endocrinologists, we observe animals in nature with the goal of describing their normal endocrinology. However, the contamination of virtually all natural habitats by chemicals of anthropogenic origins (e.g., PCBs, organochlorines, phytoestrogens, alkyphenols, heavy metals) that might alter endocrine conditions suggests we need to reevaluate many of our field studies with respect to points of reference or controls. The impaired response of the stress axis of feral brown trout, Salmo trutta, correlated with chronic exposure to heavy metals is examined as a case in point although the problems extend to other hypothalamic axes as well. Our studies emphasize that measurement of one static endocrine parameter to assess the health of any hypothalamus-pituitary axis (e.g., plasma cortisol levels to indicate stress) should not be used as a biomarker for field studies.

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Fig. 1. Chronic stress can result not only in elevated glucocorticoids but can affect growth, reproduction, and immune responses

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Fig. 2. Plasma levels of cortisol following acute confinement of feral trout to buckets. Fish from Site B (contaminated) exhibit a significantly slower rise in cortisol secretion following confinement and a significant decline in cortisol levels after 24 hr of continuous confinement when compared to trout from an uncontaminated site (Site A). Reprinted with permission from Norris et al., 1999. Impaired adrenocortical response to stress by brown trout, Salmo trutta, living in metal-contaminated waters of the Eagle River, Colorado. Gen. Comp. Endocrinol. 113:1–8. Academic Press, Inc., San Diego

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Fig. 3. Plasma levels of ACTH following acute confinement in buckets. Fish from the contaminated site (Site B) exhibit higher circulating ACTH levels initially with a significant decline occurring at 24 hr. Compare to Figure 2. Reprinted with permission from Norris et al., (1999) Impaired adrenocortical response to stress by brown trout, Salmo trutta, living in metal-contaminated waters of the Eagle River, Colorado. Gen. Comp. Endocrinol. 113:1–8. Academic Press, Inc., San Diego

Table 1. Some factors that alter cortisol levels in fishes

Table 2. Plasma cortisol (ng/ml) and stress responses in fishes

Table 3. Resting cortisol levels in feral brown trout, Salmo trutta

From the Symposium Endocrine Disrupting Contaminants: From Gene to Ecosystems presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, 6–10 January 1999, at Denver, Colorado.

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