Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

There has been a recent and emerging research focus on the environmental impacts of drugs, hormones and their mimics in the environment. Such compounds are characterized by their high potency, generally low concentration, and the ability to impact specific developmental stages of organisms, sometimes with multi-generational effects. Compounds that mimic or interfere with male sex hormones, or androgens have recently been observed in the environment associated with pesticides, veterinary remedies and complex effluents such as those from municipal sewage and pulp and paper mills. There are aspects of the natural function of androgens that are specific to fishes and this may make fishes more or less susceptible to the effects of androgens in the environment than either birds or mammals. For this reason, it is important to specifically examine the potency of environmental androgens in fishes. Fishes are very diverse and also appear to exhibit a wide range of species sensitivity to the effects of androgens. Thus, it is also vital to understand which species may be most at risk from environmental androgens. This research will explore the basis of species sensitivity to environmental androgens through the examination of the responses of three diverse fish species. This will be conducted at the biochemical level, the level of intact cells, and with intact organisms to fully understand the mechanisms that govern the potency of androgens. Furthermore, models will be constructed to understand the relationship between the chemical structure of molecules and their ability to act as androgens. This research is expected to result in new and fundamental knowledge regarding the potential mechanisms of androgens in the environment and provide the utility of being able to develop models to predict what compounds may pose environmental risk.