PMID- 31146318 OWN - NLM STAT- MEDLINE DCOM- 20190802 LR - 20190802 IS - 1873-6424 (Electronic) IS - 0269-7491 (Linking) VI - 249 DP - 2019 Jun TI - Examining the relationships between blubber steroid hormones and persistent organic pollutants in common bottlenose dolphins. PG - 982-991 LID - S0269-7491(18)35595-7 [pii] LID - 10.1016/j.envpol.2019.03.083 [doi] AB - Odontocete cetaceans bioaccumulate high concentrations of endocrine disrupting persistent organic pollutants (POPs), including dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethylene (DDE), and dichlorodiphenyldichloroethane (DDD) - collectively DDTs - but few studies have explored DDTs-mediated endocrine disruption in cetaceans. Herein, we use remotely collected blubber biopsies from common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) inhabiting a site with high localized DDTs contamination to study the relationships between DDTs exposure and steroid hormone homeostasis in cetaceans. We quantified blubber steroid hormone concentrations by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry and blubber POP concentrations by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. We detected six steroid hormones in blubber, including progesterone (P(4)), 17-hydroxyprogesterone (17OHP(4)), androstenedione (AE), testosterone (T), cortisol (F), and cortisone (E). Sampled dolphins (n = 62) exhibited exposure to DDT, DDE, DDD, chlordanes (CHLDs), mirex, dieldrin, hexachlorobenzene, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and brominated diphenyl ethers (BDEs). Using principal components analysis (PCA), we determined that blubber DDTs primarily loaded to the first principal component (PC1) explaining 81.6% of the total variance in POP exposure, while the remaining POPs primarily loaded to the PC2 (10.4% of variance). PC1 scores were negatively correlated with blubber T in males and blubber F in females, suggesting that exposure to DDTs impacted androgen and corticosteroid homeostasis. These conclusions were further supported by observed negative correlations between T and o,p'-DDE, o,p'-DDD, and p,p'-DDD in males sampled in the fall, and between F and the six individual DDTs and summation operator(6)DDTs in females. Overall, these results suggest that POP-mediated endocrine disruption may have occurred in this stock of dolphins, which could negatively impact their health and fitness. However, this study relied on uncontrolled incidental exposures, making it impossible to establish a causal relationship between DDTs exposure and endocrine effects. Importantly, this study demonstrates that remotely collected blubber biopsies are a useful matrix for studying endocrine disruption in marine mammals. CI - Copyright (c) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. FAU - Galligan, Thomas M AU - Galligan TM AD - Medical University of South Carolina, Hollings Marine Laboratory, 331 Fort Johnson Road, Charleston, SC, 29412, USA; Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, 310 West Campus Drive, 101 Cheatham Hall, Blacksburg, VA, 24060, USA. Electronic address: thomg09@vt.edu. FAU - Balmer, Brian C AU - Balmer BC AD - National Marine Mammal Foundation, 3419 Maybank Highway, Site B, Johns Island, SC, 29455, USA. FAU - Schwacke, Lori H AU - Schwacke LH AD - National Marine Mammal Foundation, 3419 Maybank Highway, Site B, Johns Island, SC, 29455, USA. FAU - Bolton, Jennie L AU - Bolton JL AD - Environmental and Fisheries Sciences Division, Northwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2725 Montlake Boulevard East, Seattle, WA, 98112, USA. FAU - Quigley, Brian M AU - Quigley BM AD - National Marine Mammal Foundation, 3419 Maybank Highway, Site B, Johns Island, SC, 29455, USA. FAU - Rosel, Patricia E AU - Rosel PE AD - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service, Southeast Fisheries Science Center, 646 Cajundome Boulevard, Lafayette, LA, 70506, USA. FAU - Ylitalo, Gina M AU - Ylitalo GM AD - Environmental and Fisheries Sciences Division, Northwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2725 Montlake Boulevard East, Seattle, WA, 98112, USA. FAU - Boggs, Ashley S P AU - Boggs ASP AD - National Institute of Standards and Technology, Hollings Marine Laboratory, 331 Fort Johnson Rd, Charleston, SC, 29412, USA. LA - eng PT - Journal Article DEP - 20190324 PL - England TA - Environ Pollut JT - Environmental pollution (Barking, Essex : 1987) JID - 8804476 RN - 0 (Endocrine Disruptors) RN - 0 (Steroids) RN - 0 (Water Pollutants, Chemical) RN - 3XMK78S47O (Testosterone) RN - CIW5S16655 (DDT) RN - WI4X0X7BPJ (Hydrocortisone) MH - Adipose Tissue/*metabolism MH - Animals MH - Bottle-Nosed Dolphin/*metabolism MH - Chromatography, Liquid MH - DDT/*analysis MH - Endocrine Disruptors/*analysis MH - Environmental Monitoring/*methods MH - Female MH - Gulf of Mexico MH - Hydrocortisone/metabolism MH - Male MH - Steroids/*metabolism MH - Testosterone/metabolism MH - Water Pollutants, Chemical/*analysis OTO - NOTNLM OT - Blubber OT - Bottlenose dolphin OT - DDT OT - Endocrine disruption OT - Marine mammal OT - Steroid hormone EDAT- 2019/05/31 06:00 MHDA- 2019/08/03 06:00 CRDT- 2019/06/01 06:00 PHST- 2018/12/12 00:00 [received] PHST- 2019/03/19 00:00 [revised] PHST- 2019/03/20 00:00 [accepted] PHST- 2019/06/01 06:00 [entrez] PHST- 2019/05/31 06:00 [pubmed] PHST- 2019/08/03 06:00 [medline] AID - S0269-7491(18)35595-7 [pii] AID - 10.1016/j.envpol.2019.03.083 [doi] PST - ppublish SO - Environ Pollut. 2019 Jun;249:982-991. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2019.03.083. Epub 2019 Mar 24.