Endocrine disruption in invertebrates
J. Oehlmann and U. Schulte-Oehlmann
Department of Ecology and Evolution Ecotoxicology,
Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt, D-60054, Frankfurt am Main,
Germany
Abstract: Recent reports have shown that a number of xenobiotics
in the environment are capable of interfering with the normal endocrine
function in a variety of animals. The overwhelming majority of the studies
on the effects of hormone-mimetic industrial chemicals were focused
on findings in vertebrates. More detailed information about the effects
on and mechanisms of action in invertebrates has only been obtained
from a few cases, although invertebrates represent more than 95 % of
the known species in the animal kingdom and are extremely important
with regard to ecosystem structure and function. The limited number
of examples for endocrine disruption (ED) in invertebrates is partially
due to the fact that their hormonal systems are rather poorly understood
in comparison with vertebrates. Deleterious endocrine changes following
an exposure to certain compounds may easily be missed or simply be unmeasurable
at present, even though a number of studies show that endocrine disruption
has probably occurred. The well-documented case studies of tributyltin
effects in mollusks and of insect growth regulators, the latter as purposely
synthesized endocrine disruptors, are explained to support this view.
According to our present knowledge, there is no reason to suppose that
such far-reaching changes are in any sense unique. The additional existing
evidence for ED in invertebrates from laboratory and field studies are
summarized as an update and amendment of the EDIETA report from 1998.
Finally, conclusions about the scale and implications of the observed
effects are drawn and further research needs are defined.
*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.
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