Linking behavioural effects of thyroid active chemicals with molecular biomarkers and their application towards the evaluation of sewage treatment technologies

城市污水将各种药品和个人护理产品引入水生环境。这些化学物质有可能通过破坏激素功能来干扰多种生物过程，但二级和三级治疗并不是专门为去除这些内分泌干扰化合物（EDCs）而设计的。此外，缺乏与环境和生态相关的检测EDC活性的有效方法，特别是检测甲状腺激素（TH）干扰活动的方法。这对所有脊椎动物的正常生长、行为、发育和新陈代谢都是必不可少的。TH作用的一个最显著的例子是它们对触发青蛙蝌蚪蜕变成小青蛙的绝对要求。在蛙科中数量最多的蛙类中，蝌蚪从水生生活方式过渡到陆地生活方式的方式与人类围产期的发展有很大的相似之处。拟议的项目结合了学术和政府科学家的专业知识，建立了基于本地两栖动物前哨点物种（Rana catesbeiana）和定量实时聚合酶链反应（QPCR）的标准化分析，以确定与行为结果相关的th干扰活动。该项目将利用RNA-Seq技术发现牛蛙蝌蚪肝脏和脑嗅叶中最敏感和最强大的TH作用指标的基因转录本，并将这些基因转录本与选择迷宫和电嗅觉评估中通过嗅觉线索反应测量的神经功能变化联系起来。这一信息将指导QPCR阵列的发展，以评估去除效果

Municipal wastewater effluents introduce a variety of pharmaceuticals and personal care products into the aquatic environment. These chemicals have the potential to perturb diverse biological processes by disrupting hormone function yet secondary & tertiary treatments are not specifically designed to remove these endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs). Moreover, effective environmentally- and ecologically-relevant methods for detecting EDC activity are lacking, particularly for thyroid hormone (TH)-disrupting activities. THs are essential for normal growth, behaviour, development, and metabolism in all vertebrates. One of the most striking examples of TH action is their absolute requirement for triggering frog tadpole metamorphosis into a froglet. In Ranid species, which represent the most populous of the frog families, the tadpole transitions from an aquatic to a terrestrial lifestyle in a manner possessing considerable parallels to perinatal human development. The proposed project combines the expertise of academic and government scientists to establish standardized assays based upon a native amphibian sentinel species, Rana catesbeiana, and quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (QPCR) to identify TH-disrupting activities anchored to behavioural outcomes. The proposed project will discover gene transcripts that are the most sensitive and robust indicators of TH action in the bullfrog tadpole liver and brain olfactory lobe using RNA-Seq and link these to changes neurological function as measured by olfactory cue responses in choice maze and electro-olfactory assessments. This information will guide the development of QPCR arrays to evaluate the efficacy of removal