title: Endocrine disrupting compounds and echinoderms: new ecotoxicological sentinels for the marine ecosystem.
abstract: Echinoderms are valuable test species in marine ecotoxicology and offer a wide range of biological processes appropriate for this approach. In spite of this potential, available data in literature are still rather limited, particularly with regard to the possible effects of endocrine disrupter compounds (EDCs). This review presents echinoderms as useful models for ecotoxicological tests and gives a brief overview of the most significant results obtained in recent years, particularly in the context of the COMPRENDO EU project. In this research project two different aspects of echinoderm physiology, plausibly regulated by humoral mechanisms, were investigated: reproductive biology and regenerative development. Selected EDCs suspected for their androgenic or antiandrogenic action were tested at low concentrations. The results obtained so far showed that different parameters such as regenerative growth, histological pattern, egg diameter and gonad maturation were affected by the exposure to the selected compounds. These results substantiate that reproductive and regenerative phenomena of echinoderms can be considered valuable alternative models for studies on EDCs and confirm that these compounds interfere with fundamental physiological processes, including growth, development and reproductive competence.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biologia, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Celoria 26, I-20133 Milano, Italy. michela.sugni@unimi.it
authors.forename: Michela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sugni
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mozzi
authors.forename: Alice
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Barbaglio
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bonasoro
authors.forename: Maria Daniela
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Candia Carnevali
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004447:Echinodermata / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D052244:Endocrine Disruptors / Q000633:toxicity*; D023421:Models, Animal; D012038:Regeneration / Q000187:drug effects; D012098:Reproduction / Q000187:drug effects; D012623:Seawater; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000633:toxicity
chemical_list: D052244:Endocrine Disruptors; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical