Replication of the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonadal axis of fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas) on a chip
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1
University of Illinois, Department of Comparative Biosciences, United States
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2
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Engineer Research and Development Center, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, United States
Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are prevalent in waterways from industrial, municipal, and agricultural runoff. Traditional studies have focused on detection and monitoring techniques for EDCs that typically involve extensive whole-fish studies or in vitro cell cultures. Whole fish studies can require long time periods before results are detected. On the other hand, cell cultures provide faster results but often use only one cell type from a system composed of numerous cell types and organs. Our goal is to replicate the HPG-axis of the fathead minnow on a microfluidic platform using hypothalamus, pituitary, gonad (HPG), and liver tissues so that it detects EDCs rapidly with real system relevance. We dissected HPG and liver tissue from adult male and female fathead minnows and cultured them ex vivo for seven days. Our goal was to maintain viability and function of all tissue in co-culture. Co-cultures allowed hormonal communication among endocrine tissues. Our results support that the co-culture of endocrine tissues maintains tissue viability. Continued work will advance this lab-on-a-chip technique as a replacement model for live fish for in-depth studies of EDC modes of interaction.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the other members of the Cropek lab at CERL for input and assistance with this study, as well as Dave Johnson and Ed Perkins for their input. Thank you to Gary Ankley and Dan Villenueve at the USEPA for teaching us fathead minnow dissection techniques.
Keywords:
endocrine disruption,
Endocrinology,
fathead minnow,
HPG axis,
Microfluidics,
tissue culture
Conference:
NASCE 2011: The inaugural meeting of the North American Society for Comparative Endocrinology, Ann Arbor, United States, 13 Jul - 16 Jul, 2011.
Presentation Type:
Oral Presentation
Topic:
Environmental endocrinology
Citation:
Kissane
T,
Morgan
R and
Cropek
D
(2011). Replication of the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonadal axis of fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas) on a chip.
Front. Endocrinol.
Conference Abstract:
NASCE 2011: The inaugural meeting of the North American Society for Comparative Endocrinology.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fendo.2011.04.00151
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Received:
22 Jul 2011;
Published Online:
09 Aug 2011.
*
Correspondence:
Dr. Donald Cropek, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Engineer Research and Development Center, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, Champaign, 61822, United States, Donald.M.Cropek@usace.army.mil