Embryonic developmental toxicity in marine medaka (Oryzias melastigma) caused by combined 17α-ethinylestradiol and hypoxic exposure

Highlights

	● Hypoxic or EE2 exposure delay eye pigmentation stage of embryogenesis.
	● Hypoxic exposure caused the delay of heart development.
	● EE2 exposure affected embryo hatching.
	● Combined hypoxia and EE2 exposure synergistically altered embryo development.
	● Combined hypoxia and EE2 exposure adversely affected larval locomotion.

Abstract

Hypoxia is one of the most pressing global challenges affecting aquatic ecosystems and is primarily driven by global warming and eutrophication. 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2), a representative endocrine-disrupting chemical, is widely used in hormone therapy and contraceptives. Both hypoxia and EE2 affect embryonic development by disrupting endocrine signaling and their interactions may induce effects significantly different from their individual impacts. However, the combined exposure of aquatic animals to EE2 under hypoxic conditions remains poorly understood. In this study, marine medaka (Oryzias melastigma) were exposed to combined stressors of EE2 and hypoxia to investigate their interactive effects on embryonic development compared to individual exposures. The key parameters assessed were heart rate, hatching time, hatching rate, and larval locomotion. Our findings indicate that combined exposure to EE2 and hypoxia resulted in an additive effect eye pigmentation development and an antagonistic effect on hatching time. These results highlight the diverse trends in the effects induced by the interaction of multiple stressors, suggesting that in-depth omics-based analyses are required to explore the underlying molecular mechanisms.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

17α-ethinylestradiol / Hypoxia / Embryonic development / Locomotion / Endocrine disrupting chemicals

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Conflict of Interests

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgements

This study was fully supported by a grant from the General Research Fund (CityU 11102918) of the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong SAR of China.

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