4 research outputs found
Toxicant Exposure During Pregnancy Increases Protective Proteins in the Dam and a Sexually Dimorphic Response in the Fetus
Endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) are ubiquitous environmental pollutants that alter endocrine system function. EDCs induce birth defects and a myriad of other negative health outcomes. Although the mechanism of toxicity of many EDCs have been studied in detail, little work has focused on understanding the mechanisms through which pregnant dams and fetuses protect themselves from EDCs or if those protective mechanisms are sexually dimorphic in fetuses. In this study, we examined proteomic alterations in the livers of mouse dams and their male and female fetuses induced by vinclozolin, a model antiandrogenic EDC. Dam livers upregulated nine phase I and phase II detoxification pathways and pathway analysis revealed that more pathways are significantly enriched in dam livers than in fetal livers. Phase I and II detoxification proteins are also involved in steroid and steroid hormone biosynthesis and vinclozolin likely alters steroid levels in both the dam and the fetus. The response of the fetal liver proteome to vinclozolin exposure is sexually dimorphic. Female fetal livers upregulated proteins in xenobiotic metabolism pathways, whereas male fetal livers upregulated proteins in oxidative phosphorylation pathways. These results suggest that female fetuses increase protective mechanisms, whereas male fetuses increase ATP production and upregulate several disease pathways that are indicative of oxidative damage. Females fetuses upregulate proteins and protective pathways that were more similar to the dams whereas males did not. If this sexually dimorphic pattern is typical, then males might generally be more sensitive to EDCs
Evolutionary Origin and Phylogeography of the Diploid Obligate Parthenogen Artemia parthenogenetica (Branchiopoda: Anostraca)
Background: Understanding the evolutionary origin and the phylogeographic patterns of asexual taxa can shed light on the origin and maintenance of sexual reproduction. We assessed the geographic origin, genetic diversity, and phylogeographic history of obligate parthenogen diploid Artemia parthenogenetica populations, a widespread halophilic crustaceanPeer reviewe