Development of fish tests for endocrine disruptors
T. H. Hutchinson, H. Yokota, S. Hagino, and K. Ozato
AstraZeneca Global Safety Health &Environment,
Brixham Environmental
Laboratory, Brixham, Devon TQ5 8BA, UK;
Kurume Laboratory, Chemicals Evaluation and Research Institute (CERI),
Japan;
Sumika Technoservice Corporation, Takarazuka-city, Japan;
Nagoya University Bioscience Center, Nagoya, Japan
Abstract: International concern over endocrine active substances
(EASs) has led to intensive research programmes to establish fish reproductive
and developmental toxicity tests for use in environmental (ecological)
risk assessment. This chapter gives an overview of key themes of in
vivo ecotoxicology research, including fish screening assays, partial
life-cycle tests (the draft OECD fish reproduction test and the new
fish development test) and fish full life-cycle tests. In the context
of the OECD test guidelines program, fish species of primary interest
include fathead minnow, medaka and zebrafish, while guppy, rainbow trout,
sheepshead minnow, and three-spined stickleback are also of scientific
importance. Critical factors for evaluation include baseline reproductive
biology and definition of EAS sensitive life-stages. For regulatory
applications, a critical review of existing fish EAS data suggests that
apical adverse effect endpoints, namely development, growth and reproduction
(e.g., fecundity, fertilization rates, and hatching success) should
be used to derive predicted no-effect concentrations (PNECs) for the
environmental risk assessment of EASs. In support of these apical adverse
effect endpoints, biomarker responses (e.g., vitellogenin, gonadal-somatic
index, and gonad histopathology) should be used to provide mechanistic
data, compare species (e.g., cyprinids vs. salmonids), and allow extrapolation
between laboratory and field studies.
*Report from a SCOPE/IUPAC project: Implication of
Endocrine Active Substances for Human and Wildlife (J. Miyamoto and
J.Burger, editors). Other reports are published in this issue,
pp. 1617-2615.