Age-Related Mercury Contamination and Relationship with Luteinizing Hormone in a Long-Lived Antarctic Bird
Seabirds, as long-lived top predators, accumulate contaminants such as mercury (Hg), an established endocrine disruptor. In long lived species hormonal secretion varies with age; therefore, Hg-induced endocrine disruption may be exacerbated in some age classes. Here we investigated relationships bet...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:4114970 2023-05-15T13:58:32+02:00 Age-Related Mercury Contamination and Relationship with Luteinizing Hormone in a Long-Lived Antarctic Bird Tartu, Sabrina Bustamante, Paco Goutte, Aurélie Cherel, Yves Weimerskirch, Henri Bustnes, Jan Ove Chastel, Olivier 2014-07-29 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4114970 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25072936 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0103642 en eng Public Library of Science http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25072936 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0103642 This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. CC-BY Research Article Text 2014 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0103642 2014-08-10T00:52:29Z Seabirds, as long-lived top predators, accumulate contaminants such as mercury (Hg), an established endocrine disruptor. In long lived species hormonal secretion varies with age; therefore, Hg-induced endocrine disruption may be exacerbated in some age classes. Here we investigated relationships between blood total Hg and luteinizing hormone (LH, a key pituitary hormone for the onset of breeding), in pre-laying known-age (11–45 years old) snow petrels (Pagodroma nivea) from Adélie Land, Antarctica. We predicted that 1) blood Hg would increase with advancing age as a consequence of bio-accumulation; and that 2) increasing blood Hg would be related to decreased concentrations of LH in the most Hg-contaminated individuals. Hg concentrations were higher in females than in males (p<0.001), and contrary to our prediction, decreased with advancing age in males (p = 0.009) and tended to do so in females (p = 0.06). The analysis of stable isotopes (δ13C and δ15N) suggested that this unexpected pattern could originate from age and sex-related variations in trophic niche, and hence Hg exposure. Regarding LH, our prediction was only supported in young birds (≤23 years) where baseline LH was inversely correlated with Hg concentrations (p = 0.04). Hg burden did not predict baseline LH or GnRH-induced LH in birds that were more than 23 years old. These results show that age and contaminants may interfere with major endocrine mechanisms and, together with other recent studies, support the view that Hg could be connected to LH secretion and could then impair the fitness of long-lived birds. Text Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Snow Petrels PubMed Central (PMC) Antarctic Nivea ENVELOPE(-45.479,-45.479,-60.580,-60.580) PLoS ONE 9 7 e103642 |
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PubMed Central (PMC) |
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Research Article |
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Research Article Tartu, Sabrina Bustamante, Paco Goutte, Aurélie Cherel, Yves Weimerskirch, Henri Bustnes, Jan Ove Chastel, Olivier Age-Related Mercury Contamination and Relationship with Luteinizing Hormone in a Long-Lived Antarctic Bird |
topic_facet |
Research Article |
description |
Seabirds, as long-lived top predators, accumulate contaminants such as mercury (Hg), an established endocrine disruptor. In long lived species hormonal secretion varies with age; therefore, Hg-induced endocrine disruption may be exacerbated in some age classes. Here we investigated relationships between blood total Hg and luteinizing hormone (LH, a key pituitary hormone for the onset of breeding), in pre-laying known-age (11–45 years old) snow petrels (Pagodroma nivea) from Adélie Land, Antarctica. We predicted that 1) blood Hg would increase with advancing age as a consequence of bio-accumulation; and that 2) increasing blood Hg would be related to decreased concentrations of LH in the most Hg-contaminated individuals. Hg concentrations were higher in females than in males (p<0.001), and contrary to our prediction, decreased with advancing age in males (p = 0.009) and tended to do so in females (p = 0.06). The analysis of stable isotopes (δ13C and δ15N) suggested that this unexpected pattern could originate from age and sex-related variations in trophic niche, and hence Hg exposure. Regarding LH, our prediction was only supported in young birds (≤23 years) where baseline LH was inversely correlated with Hg concentrations (p = 0.04). Hg burden did not predict baseline LH or GnRH-induced LH in birds that were more than 23 years old. These results show that age and contaminants may interfere with major endocrine mechanisms and, together with other recent studies, support the view that Hg could be connected to LH secretion and could then impair the fitness of long-lived birds. |
format |
Text |
author |
Tartu, Sabrina Bustamante, Paco Goutte, Aurélie Cherel, Yves Weimerskirch, Henri Bustnes, Jan Ove Chastel, Olivier |
author_facet |
Tartu, Sabrina Bustamante, Paco Goutte, Aurélie Cherel, Yves Weimerskirch, Henri Bustnes, Jan Ove Chastel, Olivier |
author_sort |
Tartu, Sabrina |
title |
Age-Related Mercury Contamination and Relationship with Luteinizing Hormone in a Long-Lived Antarctic Bird |
title_short |
Age-Related Mercury Contamination and Relationship with Luteinizing Hormone in a Long-Lived Antarctic Bird |
title_full |
Age-Related Mercury Contamination and Relationship with Luteinizing Hormone in a Long-Lived Antarctic Bird |
title_fullStr |
Age-Related Mercury Contamination and Relationship with Luteinizing Hormone in a Long-Lived Antarctic Bird |
title_full_unstemmed |
Age-Related Mercury Contamination and Relationship with Luteinizing Hormone in a Long-Lived Antarctic Bird |
title_sort |
age-related mercury contamination and relationship with luteinizing hormone in a long-lived antarctic bird |
publisher |
Public Library of Science |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4114970 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25072936 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0103642 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-45.479,-45.479,-60.580,-60.580) |
geographic |
Antarctic Nivea |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Nivea |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Snow Petrels |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Snow Petrels |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25072936 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0103642 |
op_rights |
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0103642 |
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PLoS ONE |
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9 |
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7 |
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e103642 |
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1766266876147531776 |