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Effects of Environmental-Related Concentration of Tamoxifen on Hormonal Balance and Reproduction of the Golden Apple Snail, Pomacea canaliculata (Caenogastropoda: Ampullariidae)

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Abstract

Tamoxifen is used to treat breast cancer and infertility. It acts as an estrogen antagonist or agonist, depending on the target species. Tamoxifen has been detected in aquatic environments, which causes sexual distortion in aquatic animals by affecting their hormone balance in the body. The influence of tamoxifen on golden apple snail Pomacea canaliculata Lamarck (Caenogastropoda: Ampullariidae), a freshwater mollusk, is still unclear. The purpose of this study was to determine whether tamoxifen had an estrogenic effect on P. canaliculata, and to evaluate the extent of tamoxifen’s influence on their reproductive and hormonal responses. The results showed that tamoxifen significantly decreased the contents of various hormones in the snails. The contents of estradiol, progesterone, testosterone, and 5-hydroxytryptamine were decreased to trace levels. The number of laying eggs by female snails was greatly reduced by tamoxifen, and the lowest fecundity was only 42.28. The hatching rate was reduced to 15.8% by tamoxifen treatment. Tamoxifen was ecotoxicity to the golden apple snail by disrupting the dynamic balance of key hormones, affecting social and mating behaviors of the snails. Therefore, it is important to prevent tamoxifen from being discharged into the aquatic ecosystem, to prevent residual tamoxifen from causing aquatic ecotoxicity.

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All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.

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Acknowledgements

Thanks to Professor Yu Peng, Professor Zhenyu Wang and Dr. Pei Hu for their help in our work.

In addition, we are also very grateful for the suggestions of the two anonymous reviewers.

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural of China’s Project “Hubei Province Major Invasive Alien Pests Survey and Monitoring and Integrated Control Project” (125A0609).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Resources and Environmental Science, Hubei University, No. 368 Youyi Road, Wuhan, 430062, China

    Jing Xue, Liya Zhao & Zhaohua Li

  2. Hubei Agricultural Ecological Protection Station, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Jing Xue

  3. Wuhan College of Arts & Sciences, No. 1 Shenghai Road, Wuhan, 430030, China

    Dan Fan & Haiping Feng

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Correspondence to Zhaohua Li.

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Xue, J., Zhao, L., Fan, D. et al. Effects of Environmental-Related Concentration of Tamoxifen on Hormonal Balance and Reproduction of the Golden Apple Snail, Pomacea canaliculata (Caenogastropoda: Ampullariidae). Water Air Soil Pollut 232, 517 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-021-05472-x

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