36 E NDOCRINE CONTROL

Hormones in the Balance

Atrazinehas beenwidely ured as an herblcidefor more than fortyyears.Eaclr year,peoplein the United states apply aboutT6 million poundr ofit, mortly tofields of corr and other monocoi cropr.Theyalso applyjt to tawns at homet, and golf.ourses.Wheredoesit gofron there? nto soiland water Atrazinemolecules breal down in tess tlrar ayear,but ihey stillturn up in gioundwater,po.dr, $e s ,ald ra r a tra z ' -e o n l rrrl " l o l soilsand water ofthe AmericanMidwest. l, ll r . b d d ' .r i v e .s ,l \o ' ( d I o i a o o oqst-),o-e Hayes thinks so (Figure161).Atrazjne, he suspecis, rnaybe one ofthe syntheticorqaniccompoufdr with unexpected side effe.ts. Tle compounds mimic, blocl, or boosrthe action ofnaturallrornrones involvedin reproductjonand developnrent. Theyare erdocrinedistuptos. Nayes looled at atrazinr effectson Afrjcan craweo ftags (Xenopus laevis)andleopatdtrcgs lRanapipjent) in hjs laboratory. Afterhe exposed maletadpolesto the herbjcide,somebecamehermaphrodites, wiih male and female reproduciive organs Atrazinecon.entrationsas low as 0.1pari pei billior could causeruch chanqes. Did atrazinelave similar eflectsir the wild? Tofind oui, Hayes collected naUveleopardfrogsfrom ponds ard ditchesacross the Midwest. n everyone ofthe atrazine-contarninated pords sarrpted,male frogs had abnormal sexorgans. n the pond wjth the mosi atrarine, 92 percentof ilre male5fad femi.ized sex organs. Researchers tunded by herbicideindustriesdisputethe firdjngr, but other studiesconfnmed atrazinecan cause or amplifyfrog deformlties. The Environmental Proteciion Agencyfoundthe data intriguing. Among otlre.thir9s, thi s agency regul ates the appl i cati on ofch em icals in agrjculture.lt has calledfor furth er study ofatrazine s potentiallyhannful elfectson amphibians.tt has been ercouragingfarrnersto do more to minimize the ruroff ofatrazine lader waterfiom fields MFa w ti -e ottp ho rone-di s .p ng, - en icat s ar e irfiltratirg aquatichabitats.Forlnstance,estrogens from bntf controlpilh ar excretedfromthe body in urtne and cannot be removedby standard wastewatertreatmertr. W i -n pqt.oqend nl td er!.r.ear so i, e 5 ^ate-e. it can causemaie fish to developfemale traits Socan e+rogen-nrimicking pollutant5from industries. n rome penicide cortamin ated lales in Florida, n]ale alligators]ravelow testosierone levelsard an abnormally tmal l peni s.n N ew Y ork,sal amanders developedbizane skin colorationpatterns after beirg exposed to herbjcide rjch runoffftom a rew golf coursein tfe neiqhborfood.

Figurc 36.1 Benefils and costsof herbcide appticalions. Left Atrazne can keep corntiedsnearyweedlreei no needfor conslanttilnq lhat causes soi roslonTyrone ( r / gh ,s u s p e c lth ilay es s s c h e mi c a l m a qnas by e scrambl i ng amphbi anhormonats

IM PACT', IS5 UES

y,Coneepts
TH EE N D OC R IN 5Y E 5TE M H ormones and othersi gnal ng rnoecl rl es areco m ponent s rhat contro melabolismgrowth.developmenl oj pathways makeup t he Thesamehormone sources and reprod!cl i on endocri ne sysl ern oi nearl y a l venebral es.S e clon36l S 6N A L N G ME C H A N I5M5 A hormone s gna s larqel cells wlr ch are any cellsthal have rceptors lor it. Receploractvalion leadsto lransducton ol th signaland the ce lular response. Seclion36.2 A MA S TE R N TE GR AN TG C E N TE R n vertebrates, the hypolhalamus and p luitarygland are connecledslrucluraly and iunct onally Togetherthey lhe coordinate activites of manyotherglandsthroughout

Are amplribians, flshes,and alligatorttoo removed The endocrinedisruptorsmaybe from your interests? wiih hum ansto , o .B e tw e e n l9l8 and1990, me d d l ing spenn counts ofmale5 in Wenern countrisdedined by about 40 per.ent. Wouldyou be surprisedto learn rat nlen if agri.ulturalregionsmay havetfe lowett countsl semen discovered, As Universityof Missourirerearchers samplesfrom rnen in Columbia,Missourl,containe.l only about halfa, manynotile sperm as ihe samples fron men ln New YorkCity and LosAngeles. are wh at is l<illingoff spermI Enroger like chemicals ir known as afemale sex tlre main ruspects.Estrogen hormone,yetboth maler andfemalesproduceit, ard botlr havereceptors for it. n males,5permcannot mature However, nrany unlessenrogen docls atthe receptors. other.hemi.als, includinq keponeand DDI .an latch on are nowbanned to estrogenreceptoE.Bothinsectjcjdes in the United siates. Thjs chapterfo.useson hormones-then5ourcee, havesimilai tarqets,afd intera.tions.All vertebrates lfthe der,ilr hormone secretingglandr and systems. dart to seemrernote,remembei endocrire ditruptors. Whatyou learn here can helpyouevaluateresearch that may influencyourhealth andlife style.

OIH E RH OR MON E 50U R C E S Negatve feedbackLoops to the irypotha amusand pit! lary of rngnyg ands. Loca changes n the conlrolrhesecrelion oi otherglands nternal env ronrnent conl rol l he secreti on

IN V E R TE B R A H TE OR MON E 5 Hormones conlrolrnoltng and olher evntsin llre lte cyc es ,.:. r o^opt or s vortob.ate ot -!6. pb.a.ac,. " a 1o e. c,d i neages S ec lr on 36. 11 sl arted to evol ven i nvenebral e TH EH OR MON AsY L MP H ON Y va' 1 a .' o' qen ' ' 51e1> ared l o.- o i .-. 'hopler s ' ! q uni . Tq < se,l i o p-l sl ogal L- -o< ' ol rer t - Jue whrchcan be traced In speclic responses lo horrnones, part lo var alions n receptors. seclron36 12

EarlierConcepts

uow wautaYou vote?

Crap yields that sustain the hunan populatian curenlly peslicides, sone afwhichmay dependon ag.rcultutal inlrcgs and athetuntaryeted distupthatmonetunctian spectes. Should chenicalsthatmay causeprcbtems renain in use while rcsearchercinvestigatethem, SeeBialogyNawlat details, then vote online.

ng oi membrafe Thischapterbuildson yourLrnderstand ( 15 1) feedback prolens (Sectons 5.2, 5 4) qenecontrols andcel l -l o-ce sgna ng (285).Y ouwilldr aw oops(28.3), ol orqanicmetabosrn(e 6) and bra n on your!ndefslanding luncton (34.9-3412)Youw Lbe lookng morec oselyat the (25.11,2513 25.15). nal ure ol rnol ung (33.r) A An ear er secl on lrlroducedglandularep thelium knd ol lissue are ernbedded in lh s hormone-secreling cells Lin ng for sorneorgans whichmaylorm a glandor a sheetlike

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