Developmental timing of sodium perchlorate exposure alters angiogenesis, thyroid follicle proliferation and sexual maturation in stickleback.

ABSTRACT: Perchlorate, a common aquatic contaminant, is well known to disrupt homeostasis of the hypothalamus-pituitary-thyroid axis. This study utilizes the threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) fish to determine if perchlorate exposure during certain windows of development has morphological effects on thyroid and gonads. Fish were moved from untreated water to perchlorate-contaminated water (30 and 100mg/L) starting at 0, 3, 7, 14, 21, 42, 154 and 305 days post fertilization until approximately one year old. A reciprocal treatment (fish in contaminated water switched to untreated water) was conducted on the same schedule. Perchlorate exposure increased angiogenesis and follicle proliferation in thyroid tissue, delayed gonadal maturity, and skewed sex ratios toward males; effects depended

SUBMITTER: Furin CG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4508251 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature