4.7 Article

Does contaminant exposure disrupt maternal hormones deposition? A study on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in an Arctic seabird

Journal

SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
Volume 868, Issue -, Pages -

Publisher

ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.161413

Keywords

Black-legged kittiwake; PFAS; Maternal effect; Corticosterone; Testosterone; Thyroid hormones

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Maternal effects are important for females to regulate offspring development. The deposition of maternal hormones may allow females to adjust the phenotype of their offspring according to the environment. However, it is unknown if contaminants like PFAS can disrupt maternal hormone deposition.
Maternal effects are thought to be essential tools for females to modulate offspring development. The selective depo-sition of avian maternal hormones could therefore allow females to strategically adjust the phenotype of their offspring to the environmental situation encountered. However, at the time of egg formation, several contaminants are also transferred to the egg, including per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) which are ubiquitous organic contami-nants with endocrine disrupting properties. It is, however, unknown if they can disrupt maternal hormone deposition. In this study we explored relationships between female PFAS burden and maternal deposition in the eggs of steroids (dihydrotestosterone, androstenedione and testosterone), glucocorticoids (corticosterone) and thyroid hormones (triiodothyronine and thyroxine) in a population of the Arctic-breeding black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla). Egg yolk hormone levels were unrelated to female hormone plasma levels. Second-laid eggs had significantly lower concentrations of androstenedione than first-laid eggs. Triiodothyronine yolk levels were decreasing with increasing egg mass but increasing with increasing females' body condition. Testosterone was the only transferred yolk hormone correlated to maternal PFAS burden: specifically, we found a positive correlation between testosterone in yolks and circulating maternal perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), perfluorodecanoic acid (PFDcA) and perfluoroundecanoic acid (PFUnA) in first-laid eggs. This correlative study provides a first insight into the potential of some long-chain perfluoroalkyl acids to disrupt maternal hormones deposition in eggs and raises the question about the consequences of increased testosterone deposition on the developing embryo.

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