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Assessment of 17α-ethinylestradiol effects in Daphnia magna: life-history traits, biochemical and genotoxic parameters

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Abstract

The occurrence of pharmaceuticals in aquatic ecosystems and the need to study them have increased over the years since they enter continuously the environment. Besides, these compounds are not intended for applications with environmental purposes, and therefore, little is known about their ecological effects, particularly in non-target organisms, as invertebrate species. Inside these substances, endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) have recently come into the limelight, due to environmental concentrations and consequently their detrimental effects on different organisms. 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2) has been detected in the aquatic environment in various locations around the globe since it is the main synthetic hormone used as a female oral contraceptive and is also applied in veterinary medicine and animal production. The present study was intended to assess the chronic effects of EE2, in the non-target organism as Daphnia magna. Thus, to analyze the individual and subindividual impact, this aquatic organism was chronically exposed (21 days) to 0.00 (control group), 0.10, 1.00, 10.0, and 100 μg/L of EE2. Results here obtained demonstrated that D. magna exposed to the EE2 concentrations had significant effects in individual (life-history) and sub-individual (biochemical levels) parameters. Alterations as anticipation in the age at first reproduction, a decrease of the growth rate, oxidative stress, and lipid peroxidation were detected, as well as genotoxic damage. Therefore, it was possible to infer that EE2 can disrupt several metabolic pathways and physiological functions of D. magna, since EE2 demonstrated ecotoxicity, at environmentally relevant concentrations. This work reinforces the importance of examining the effects of more relevant exposures (more prolonged and with ecologically pertinent concentrations) of potential endocrine disruptors like EE2, to the freshwater organisms and ecosystem.

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Acknowledgments

Sara Antunes acknowledges the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) for research contracts under the program “Scientific Employment Stimulus 2017” (CEECIND/01756/2017) and for the project “REDEFInE—a multi-scale and multi-tiered toolbox for assessing ecosystem quality of freshwater REservoirs: briDging the gaps of the watEr Framework dIrEctive approach” (reference POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029368). Sara Rodrigues is hired by the “REDEFInE” project.

Funding

This work was supported by National Funds (through the FCT—Foundation for Science and Technology) and by the European Regional Development Fund (through COMPETE2020 and PT2020) through the research project ReDEFine (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029368) and the strategic program UIDB/04423/2020 and UIDP/04423/2020. Sara Antunes is hired through the Regulamento do Emprego Científico e Tecnológico—RJEC from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) program (CEECIND/01756/2017).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Biologia da Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, 4169-007, Porto, Portugal

    Sara Rodrigues, Ana Marta Silva & Sara Cristina Antunes

  2. CIMAR/CIIMAR, Centro Interdisciplinar de Investigação Marinha e Ambiental, Universidade do Porto, Matosinhos, Portugal

    Sara Rodrigues & Sara Cristina Antunes

Authors
  1. Sara Rodrigues
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  2. Ana Marta Silva
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  3. Sara Cristina Antunes
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Contributions

All authors materially participated in the research and/or article preparation: Sara Rodrigues and Ana Marta Silva were responsible for maintenance of test organisms, control during exposure, sacrifice and processing of biological samples, and for the writing of the research article submitted in its present form; Sara Antunes supervised exposure and sacrifice procedures, respectively, and ensured quality control concerning the preliminary processing of biological samples. Sara Rodrigues and Sara Antunes assisted during the elaboration of article/statistical analyses. Sara Antunes was the main supervisor of the present work and was also responsible for conducting enzymatic assays and data analysis. Furthermore, in close cooperation with Sara Rodrigues was responsible for the statistics.

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Correspondence to Sara Rodrigues.

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Rodrigues, S., Silva, A.M. & Antunes, S.C. Assessment of 17α-ethinylestradiol effects in Daphnia magna: life-history traits, biochemical and genotoxic parameters. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 23160–23173 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-12323-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-12323-5

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