Environmental chemicals with known endocrine potential affect yolk protein content in the aquatic insect Chironomus riparius

The use of vitellogenesis as a marker for possible effects of endocrine disrupting agents on insects was tested in the aquatic midge Chironomus riparius. As test substances the synthetic ecdysoid tebufenozide, and the endocrine disruptors bisphenol a and 4-n-nonylphenol were applied in a semi-static manner. The yolk protein contents of freshly emerged (24 h) male and female midges were determined by an ELISA procedure. In males, where always low amounts of immunoreactivity were apparent, yolk concentrations were lowered by 10% after a 80 μg/l tebufenozide treatment, and by 20–25% after exposition to bisphenol a at concentrations of 1, 100, and 3,000 μg/l. 4-n-nonylphenol contamination caused an inverted dose-response curve. At low test concentrations (1.9–30 μg/l) reduced yolk immunoreactivity occurred, while at medium concentrations (120 and 500 μg/l) no significant effects were observable. In the most highly contaminated group (2,000 μg/l) yolk protein immunoreactivity was elevated to 107% of the control. Female yolk protein contents were affected only in the 3,000 μg bisphenol a/l contaminated group, where yolk immunoreactivity was reduced by ca. 10% compared to the control.