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Recovery of gonadal development in tiger puffer Takifugu rubripes after exposure to 17β-estradiol during early life stages

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An Erratum to this article was published on 08 September 2017

This article has been updated

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate the long-term effects of 17β-estradiol (E2) exposure on gonadal development in the tiger puff er (Takifugu rubripes), which has a genetic sex determination system of male homogametic XY-XX. Tiger puff er larvae were exposed to 1, 10 and 100 μg/L E2 from 15 to 100 days post-hatch (dph) and then maintained in clean seawater until 400 dph. Changes in sex ratio, gonadal structure and gonadosomatic index (GSI) were monitored at 100, 160, 270 and 400 dph. Sex-associated single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers were used to analyze the genetic sex of samples, except those at 100 dph. Exposure had a positive effect on the conversion of genetically male gonads into phenotypically female gonads at 100 dph. However, gonads from 60% of genetic XY males in the 1-μg/L E2 group and 100% in the 10-μg/L E2 group developed intersexual gonads at 160 dph; gonads of all genetic XY males in the two treatment groups reverted to testis by 270 dph. While 38%, 57% and 44% of gonads of XY fish in the 100-μg/L E2 group reverted to intersexual gonads at 160, 270 and 400 dph, respectively, none reverted to testis after E2 treatment. In addition, E2 exposure inhibited gonadal growth of both genetic sexes, as indicated by the clear dose-dependent decrease in GSI at 270 and 400 dph. The results showed that exposure to E2 during the early life stages of tiger puff er disrupted gonadal development, but that fish recovered after migration to clean seawater. The study suggests the potential use of tiger puff er as a valuable indicator species to evaluate the effects of environmental estrogens on marine fish, thereby protecting valuable fishery resources.

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Change history

  • 08 September 2017

    A mistake was found in Section 2.2. The current expression is “In each treatment group, juveniles were exposed to E2 at the set concentration for 2 h once a day from 15 to 100 dph.” The correct version should be “In each treatment group, juveniles were exposed to E2 at the set concentration for 2 h once two days from 15 to 100 dph.”

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Mariculture of Ministry of Education, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266003, China

    Peng Hu  (胡鹏)

  2. Municipal Key Laboratory of Marine Fish Breeding and Biotechnology, Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Qingdao, 266071, China

    Peng Hu  (胡鹏), Bin Liu  (刘滨), Zhen Meng  (孟振), Xinfu Liu  (刘新富), Yudong Jia  (贾玉东) & Jilin Lei  (雷霁霖)

  3. Tianyuan Aquaculture Co., Ltd. of Yantai Economic Development Zone, Yantai, 264000, China

    Zhi Yang  (杨志)

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  1. Peng Hu  (胡鹏)
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Correspondence to Xinfu Liu  (刘新富).

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Supported by the China Agriculture Research System (No. CARS- 50-G20), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31402284), and the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (863 Program) (No. 2012AA10A413-2)

An erratum to this article is available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s00343-017-7000-x.

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Hu, P., Liu, B., Meng, Z. et al. Recovery of gonadal development in tiger puffer Takifugu rubripes after exposure to 17β-estradiol during early life stages. Chin. J. Ocean. Limnol. 35, 613–623 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00343-017-6016-6

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