title: Application of molecular endpoints in early life stage salmonid environmental biomonitoring.
abstract: Molecular endpoints can enhance existing whole animal bioassays by more fully characterizing the biological impacts of aquatic pollutants. Laboratory and field studies were used to examine the utility of adopting molecular endpoints for a well-developed in situ early life stage (eyed embryo to onset of swim-up fry) salmonid bioassay to improve diagnostic assessments of water quality in the field. Coastal cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki clarki) were exposed in the laboratory to the model metal (zinc, 40μg/L) and the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (pyrene, 100μg/L) in water to examine the resulting early life stage salmonid responses. In situ field exposures and bioassays were conducted in parallel to evaluate the water quality of three urban streams in British Columbia (two sites with anthropogenic inputs and one reference site). The endpoints measured in swim-up fry included survival, deformities, growth (weight and length), vitellogenin (vtg) and metallothionein (Mt) protein levels, and hepatic gene expression (e.g., metallothioneins [mta and mtb], endocrine biomarkers [vtg and estrogen receptors, esr] and xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes [cytochrome P450 1A3, cyp1a3 and glutathione transferases, gstk]). No effects were observed in the zinc treatment, however exposure of swim-up fry to pyrene resulted in decreased survival, deformities and increased estrogen receptor alpha (er1) mRNA levels. In the field exposures, xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes (cyp1a3, gstk) and zinc transporter (zntBigM103) mRNA were significantly increased in swim-up fry deployed at the sites with more anthropogenic inputs compared to the reference site. Cluster analysis revealed that gene expression profiles in individuals from the streams receiving anthropogenic inputs were more similar to each other than to the reference site. Collectively, the results obtained in this study suggest that molecular endpoints may be useful, and potentially more sensitive, indicators of site-specific contamination in real-world, complex exposure scenarios in addition to whole body morphometric and physiological measures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Simon, Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, British Columbia V5A 1S6, Canada. Electronic address: vicki.marlatt@sfu.ca.
authors.forename: Vicki L
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: Marlatt
authors.affiliation: Canadian Rivers Institute and Department of Biology, University of New Brunswick, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada.
authors.forename: Ryan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sherrard
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Simon, Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, British Columbia V5A 1S6, Canada; Canadian Rivers Institute and Department of Biology, University of New Brunswick, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada; Nautilus Environmental, 8664 Commerce Court, Imperial Square Lake City, Burnaby, British Columbia V5A 4N71, Canada.
authors.forename: Chris J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Kennedy
authors.affiliation: Nautilus Environmental, 8664 Commerce Court, Imperial Square Lake City, Burnaby, British Columbia V5A 4N71, Canada.
authors.forename: James R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Elphick
authors.affiliation: Canadian Rivers Institute and Department of Biology, University of New Brunswick, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada.
authors.forename: Christopher J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Martyniuk
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis*; D001955:British Columbia; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian / Q000187:drug effects; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D029941:Fish Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000187:drug effects; D008668:Metallothionein / Q000032:analysis; D017683:Oncorhynchus / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D011721:Pyrenes / Q000032:analysis / Q000633:toxicity; D045483:Rivers / Q000737:chemistry; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014819:Vitellogenins / Q000032:analysis; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000633:toxicity*; D015032:Zinc / Q000032:analysis / Q000633:toxicity
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D029941:Fish Proteins; D011721:Pyrenes; D014819:Vitellogenins; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D008668:Metallothionein; C030984:pyrene; D015032:Zinc
keywords: Development; Environmental monitoring; Gene expression; Metals; PAH; Salmonid