Title: Burrowing in the freshwater mussel Elliptio complanata is sexually dimorphic and feminized by low levels of atrazine.

Authors: Flynn, Katherine; Wedin, Maria Belopolsky; Bonventre, Josephine A; Dillon-White, Marsha; Hines, Jessica; Weeks, Benjamin S; André, Chantale; Schreibman, Martin P; Gagné, Francois

Published In J Toxicol Environ Health A, (2013)

Abstract: The widely used herbicide atrazine (ATR) may have endocrine-associated adverse effects, including on behavior. In this study, 120 adult freshwater mussels, Elliptio complanata, were exposed to ATR at the environmentally relevant concentrations of 1.5, 15, or 150 μg/L. Burrowing depth was evaluated hourly for 6 h and at sacrifice animals were sexed by gonad smear. Female controls burrowed overall approximately 30% less than males, the first report of sexual dimorphism in this behavior. Atrazine at 15 μg/L feminized burrowing in both sexes, in that exposed animals burrowed 20% less than their same-sex controls. Males treated with 1.5 μg /L ATR displayed approximately 20-fold higher vitellogenin (VTG) levels than same-sex controls. Higher concentrations of ATR were not associated with increasing effects. A scatterplot showed a weak binomial curve associating low burrowing with high VTG levels. Taken together, these data suggest a nonlinear dose response in behavioral and physiological feminization produced by ATR and support the need to reconsider the widespread use of this compound.

PubMed ID: 24279817

MeSH Terms: No MeSH terms associated with this publication