Exposure to Persistent Organic Pollutants Reduces Testosterone Concentrations and Affects Sperm Viability and Morphology during the Mating Peak Period in a Controlled Experiment on Farmed Arctic Foxes (Vulpes lagopus)
We investigated testosterone production and semen parameters in farmed Arctic foxes by dietary exposure to persistent organic pollutants (POPs) for 22 months. Eight male foxes were given a diet of POP-contaminated minke whale blubber, whereas their eight male siblings were fed a control diet contain...
Published in: | Environmental Science & Technology |
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Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
2017
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://pure.au.dk/portal/en/publications/a15858c4-fd7c-490c-9f81-f052722b17ee https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.7b00289 |
Summary: | We investigated testosterone production and semen parameters in farmed Arctic foxes by dietary exposure to persistent organic pollutants (POPs) for 22 months. Eight male foxes were given a diet of POP-contaminated minke whale blubber, whereas their eight male siblings were fed a control diet containing pig fat as the main fat source. The minke whale based feed contained a Sigma POPs concentration of 802 ng/g ww, whereas the pig based feed contained Sigma POPs of 24 ng/g ww. At the end of the experiment, Sigma POP concentrations in adipose tissue were 8856 +/- 2535 ng/g ww in the exposed foxes and 1264 539 ng/g ww in the control foxes. The exposed group had 45-64% significantly lower testosterone concentrations during their peak mating season compared to the controls (p |
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