Effects of the planar PCB 3,3′,4,4′-tetrachlorobiphenyl (TCB) on ovarian development, plasma levels of sex steroid hormones and vitellogenin, and progeny survival in the white perch (Morone americana)

Adult white perch were given three intraperitoneal injections of 3,3′,4,4′-tetrachlorobiphenyl (TCB) at one of three different doses (0.2–5.0 mg TCB/kg body weight). The TCB injections were initiated approx. 3 months prior to the spawning season and given at 3-week intervals. Fewer females matured in the group receiving the highest dose of TCB. Those fish that did mature had a gonadal somatic index approximately half that of control females. Circulating levels of the sex steroid hormones, estradiol-17β and testosterone, and of the egg yolk precursor, vitellogenin, were not significantly altered by TCB exposure. By 7 days post-hatch survival of larvac produced from females exposed to 1.0 and 5.0 mg/kg TCB was reduced as compared to controls (0, 1 and 54%, respectively). These results show that: (1) TCB impairs both maturation of adult females and survival of their offspring, and (2) decreased larval survival may occur at TCB doses less than those required to decrease ovarian growth, oocyte maturation, or circulating sex steroid hormone and vitellogenin concentrations in the adult fish.