The exposure to nandrolone changed the expression of genes associated with sexual differentiation and disrupted the levels of hormones in the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis, ultimately inducing male differentiation in zebrafish (Danio rerio)

IF 7.6 2区环境科学与生态学 Q1 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Environmental Pollution Pub Date : 2025-03-27 DOI:10.1016/j.envpol.2025.126156

Yufei Xie , Qiuyu Liu , Wenting Lin , Yuan Ren , Lingtian Xie

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Abstract

Various anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) are frequently detected in aquatic environments, yet the potential ecotoxicological impacts of their increased load have not received adequate attention. This study investigates the effects of exposure to the androgen nandrolone on sex differentiation, gonadal development, and the expression of hormones, enzymes, and proteins related to the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis in zebrafish. The results indicate that exposure to nandrolone at 60 days post-fertilization promotes the maturation of spermatogonia, inhibits the development of oocytes, and induces their apoptosis. Additionally, there were dose-dependent changes in male differentiation and hormone levels within the HPG axis: in the high-dose group (5 μg/L), males constituted 73 % of the population, and levels of E2 hormones in gonadal tissues decreased by 33 %, while T hormone levels increased by 55 %. Furthermore, the expression of genes essential for ovarian differentiation were downregulated, whereas the expression of testicular differentiation-related genes were upregulated. The molecular docking results show that the drug can form hydrogen bonds with key proteins, which have high affinity, and are more likely to cause conformational changes in the proteins, thereby altering their activity. KEGG analysis suggests that the MAPK signaling pathway is likely the target pathway through which nandrolone exposure induces reproductive toxicity.

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来源期刊

Environmental Pollution 环境科学-环境科学

CiteScore

16.00

自引率

6.70%

发文量

2082

审稿时长

2.9 months

期刊介绍： Environmental Pollution is an international peer-reviewed journal that publishes high-quality research papers and review articles covering all aspects of environmental pollution and its impacts on ecosystems and human health. Subject areas include, but are not limited to: • Sources and occurrences of pollutants that are clearly defined and measured in environmental compartments, food and food-related items, and human bodies; • Interlinks between contaminant exposure and biological, ecological, and human health effects, including those of climate change; • Contaminants of emerging concerns (including but not limited to antibiotic resistant microorganisms or genes, microplastics/nanoplastics, electronic wastes, light, and noise) and/or their biological, ecological, or human health effects; • Laboratory and field studies on the remediation/mitigation of environmental pollution via new techniques and with clear links to biological, ecological, or human health effects; • Modeling of pollution processes, patterns, or trends that is of clear environmental and/or human health interest; • New techniques that measure and examine environmental occurrences, transport, behavior, and effects of pollutants within the environment or the laboratory, provided that they can be clearly used to address problems within regional or global environmental compartments.