TY  - JOUR
A1  - Oehlmann, Jörg
A1  - Schulte-Oehlmann, Ulrike
A1  - Bachmann, Jean
A1  - Oetken, Matthias
A1  - Lutz, Ilka
A1  - Kloas, Werner
A1  - Ternes, Thomas A.
T1  - Bisphenol A induces superfeminization in the Ramshorn snail Marisa cornuarietis (Gastropoda: Prosobranchia) at environmentally relevant concentrations
T2  - Environmental health perspectives
N2  - Previous investigations have shown that bisphenol A (BPA) induces a superfeminization syndrome in the freshwater snail Marisa cornuarietis at concentrations as low as 1 μg/L. Superfemales are characterized by the formation of additional female organs, enlarged accessory sex glands, gross malformations of the pallial oviduct, and a stimulation of egg and clutch production, resulting in increased female mortality. However, these studies were challenged on the basis of incomplete experimentation. Therefore, the objective of the current approach was to bridge several gaps in knowledge by conducting additional experiments. In an initial series of experiments, study results from the reproductive phase of the snails were evaluated in the sub-micrograms per liter range. Before and after the spawning season, superfemale responses were observed [NOEC (no observed effect concentration) 7.9 ng/L, EC10 (effective concentration at 10%) 13.9 ng/L], which were absent during the spawning season. A further experiment investigated the temperature dependence of BPA responses by exposing snails at two temperatures in parallel. The adverse effect of BPA was at least partially masked at 27°C (EC10 998 ng/L) when compared with 20°C (EC10 14.8 ng/L). In M. cornuarietis, BPA acts as an estrogen receptor (ER) agonist, because effects were completely antagonized by a co-exposure to tamoxifen and Faslodex. Antiandrogenic effects of BPA, such as a significant decrease in penis length at 20°C, were also observed. Competitive receptor displacement experiments indicate the presence of androgen- and estrogen-specific binding sites. The affinity for BPA of the estrogen binding sites in M. cornuarietis is higher than that of the ER in aquatic vertebrates. The results emphasize that prosobranchs are affected by BPA at lower concentrations than are other wildlife groups, and the findings also highlight the importance of exposure conditions.
KW  - bisphenol A
KW  - endocrine disruptor
KW  - hazard assessment
KW  - low-dose effects
KW  - Marisa cornuarietis
KW  - prosobranchia
KW  - reproductive toxicity
KW  - superfemale
KW  - temperature
KW  - xenoestrogen
Y1  - 2007
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/967
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30-45222
SN  - 0091-6765
SN  - 1552-9924
N1  - Copyright: This is an Open Access article: verbatim copying and redistribution of this article are permitted in all media for any purpose, provided this notice is preserved along with the article's original DOI
VL  - 114
IS  - Supplement 1
SP  - 127
EP  - 133
PB  - National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
CY  - Research Triangle Park, N.C. [u. a.]
ER  -