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Research Article

Hermaphroditic, demasculinized frogs after exposure to the herbicide atrazine at low ecologically relevant doses

Tyrone B. Hayes, Atif Collins, Melissa Lee, Magdelena Mendoza, Nigel Noriega, A. Ali Stuart, and Aaron Vonk
  1. Laboratory for Integrative Studies in Amphibian Biology, Group in Endocrinology, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3140

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PNAS April 16, 2002 99 (8) 5476-5480; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.082121499
Tyrone B. Hayes
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Atif Collins
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Melissa Lee
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Magdelena Mendoza
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Nigel Noriega
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A. Ali Stuart
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Aaron Vonk
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  1. Communicated by David B. Wake, University of California, Berkeley, CA (received for review December 20, 2001)

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Abstract

Atrazine is the most commonly used herbicide in the U.S. and probably the world. It can be present at several parts per million in agricultural runoff and can reach 40 parts per billion (ppb) in precipitation. We examined the effects of atrazine on sexual development in African clawed frogs (Xenopus laevis). Larvae were exposed to atrazine (0.01–200 ppb) by immersion throughout larval development, and we examined gonadal histology and laryngeal size at metamorphosis. Atrazine (≥0.1 ppb) induced hermaphroditism and demasculinized the larynges of exposed males (≥1.0 ppb). In addition, we examined plasma testosterone levels in sexually mature males. Male X. laevis suffered a 10-fold decrease in testosterone levels when exposed to 25 ppb atrazine. We hypothesize that atrazine induces aromatase and promotes the conversion of testosterone to estrogen. This disruption in steroidogenesis likely explains the demasculinization of the male larynx and the production of hermaphrodites. The effective levels reported in the current study are realistic exposures that suggest that other amphibian species exposed to atrazine in the wild could be at risk of impaired sexual development. This widespread compound and other environmental endocrine disruptors may be a factor in global amphibian declines.

Footnotes

    • ↵* To whom reprint requests should be addressed. E-mail: tyrone{at}socrates.berkeley.edu.

  • Abbreviation

    ppb,
    parts per billion
    • Received December 20, 2001.
    • Accepted March 1, 2002.
    • Copyright © 2002, The National Academy of Sciences
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    Hermaphroditic, demasculinized frogs after exposure to the herbicide atrazine at low ecologically relevant doses
    Tyrone B. Hayes, Atif Collins, Melissa Lee, Magdelena Mendoza, Nigel Noriega, A. Ali Stuart, Aaron Vonk
    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Apr 2002, 99 (8) 5476-5480; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.082121499

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    Hermaphroditic, demasculinized frogs after exposure to the herbicide atrazine at low ecologically relevant doses
    Tyrone B. Hayes, Atif Collins, Melissa Lee, Magdelena Mendoza, Nigel Noriega, A. Ali Stuart, Aaron Vonk
    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Apr 2002, 99 (8) 5476-5480; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.082121499
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