ArticleEnvironmental health perspectives2006
PCB-related alteration of thyroid hormones and thyroid hormone receptor gene expression in free-ranging harbor seals (Phoca vitulina).
Article in Environmental health perspectives, 2006. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 134 citations in OpenAlex.
- Impacts of environmental stressors on fertility and fecundity across taxa, with implications for planetary health.NPJ emerging contaminants · 2026Review
- Fitness correlates of blubber oxidative stress and cellular defences in grey seals (Halichoerus grypus): support for the life-history-oxidative stress theory from an animal model of simultaneous lactation and fasting.Cell stress & chaperones · 2023Article
- A mammalian messenger RNA sex determination method from humpback whale (Royal Society open science · 2022Article
- Circulating concentrations of thyroid hormones and cortisol in wild and semi-natural Yangtze finless porpoise (Conservation physiology · 2021Article
- Article
- 2,3',4,4',5-Pentachlorobiphenyl induced autophagy of the thyrocytes via DAPK2/PKD/VPS34 pathway.Archives of toxicology · 2019Article
- Using Gene Transcription to Assess Ecological and Anthropological Stressors in Brown Bears.EcoHealth · 2018Article
- Article
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- Organohalogen Contaminants and Vitamins in Northern Fur Seals (Callorhinus ursinus) Collected During Subsistence Hunts in Alaska.Archives of environmental contamination and toxicology · 2016Article
- Stress physiology in marine mammals: how well do they fit the terrestrial model?Journal of comparative physiology. B, Biochemical, systemic, and environmental physiology · 2015Review
- Seasonal variation in the skin transcriptome of common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) from the northern Gulf of Mexico.PloS one · 2015Article
- Overcoming the challenges of studying conservation physiology in large whales: a review of available methods.Conservation physiology · 2013Article
- Anaemia, hypothyroidism and immune suppression associated with polychlorinated biphenyl exposure in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus).Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2012Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Persistent organic pollutants are environmental contaminants that, because of their lipophilic properties and long half-lives, bioaccumulate within aquatic food webs and often reach high concentrations in marine mammals, such as harbor seals (Phoca vitulina). Exposure to these contaminants has been associated with developmental abnormalities, immunotoxicity, and reproductive impairment in marine mammals and other high-trophic-level wildlife, mediated via a disruption of endocrine processes. The highly conserved thyroid hormones (THs) represent one vulnerable endocrine end point that is critical for metabolism, growth, and development in vertebrates. We characterized the relationship between contaminants and specific TH receptor (TR) gene expression in skin/blubber biopsy samples, as well as serum THs, from free-ranging harbor seal pups (n = 39) in British Columbia, Canada, and Washington State, USA. We observed a contaminant-related increase in blubber TR-alpha gene expression [total polychlorinated biphenyls (capital sigmaPCBs); r = 0.679; p < 0.001] and a concomitant decrease in circulating total thyroxine concentrations (capital sigmaPCBs; r = -0.711; p < 0.001) . Consistent with results observed in carefully controlled laboratory and captive feeding studies, our findings suggest that the TH system in harbor seals is highly sensitive to disruption by environmental contaminants. Such a disruption not only may lead to adverse effects on growth and development but also could have important ramifications for lipid metabolism and energetics in marine mammals.
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