Fish short‐term reproduction assay with atrazine and the Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes)

Breeding groups of Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes) were exposed to atrazine at measured concentrations of 0.6, 5.5, and 53 µg/L for 35 d. Evaluated endpoints included survival, fecundity, fertility, growth (weight and length), behavior, secondary sex characteristics (anal fin papillae), gonad histopathology, and hepatic vitellogenin. No statistically significant effects of atrazine exposure on survival and growth of medaka were noted during the test, and mean survival was ≥97.5% in all treatment groups on Day 35. No significant effects of atrazine exposure on reproduction were observed. The number of mean cumulative eggs produced in the negative control, 0.6, 5.5, and 53 µg/L treatment groups was 7158, 6691, 6883, and 6856 eggs, respectively. The mean number of eggs per female reproductive day was 40.9, 38.2, 40.2, and 39.2 eggs per day, respectively. There were also no dose-dependent effects on mean anal fin papillae counts among male fish or expression of vtg-II in males or females. In addition, atrazine exposure was not related to the development stage of test fish, with testes stages ranging from 2 to 3 in all groups and ovaries ranging from stage 2 to 2.5. Overall, exposure to atrazine up to 53 µg/L for 35 d did not result in significant, treatment-related effects on measured endpoints related to survival, growth, or reproduction in Japanese medaka. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved