Document Type
Article
Publication Title
American Journal of Physiology Regulatory Integrative and Comparative Physiology
Department
Biological Sciences
ISSN
15221490
Volume
325
Issue
5
DOI
10.1152/AJPREGU.00165.2023
First Page
R504
Last Page
R522
Publication Date
9-29-2023
Abstract
Top ocean predators such as marine mammals are threatened by intensifying anthropogenic activity, and understanding the combined effects of multiple stressors on their physiology is critical for conservation efforts. We investigated potential interactions between stress hormones and bisphenol contaminants in a model marine mammal, the northern elephant seal (NES). We exposed precision-cut adipose tissue slices (PCATS) from blubber of weaned NES pups to cortisol (CORT), epinephrine (EPI), bisphenol A (BPA), bisphenol S (BPS), or their combinations (CORT-EPI, BPA-EPI, and BPS-EPI) ex vivo and identified hundreds of genes that were differentially regulated in response to these treatments. CORT altered expression of genes associated with lipolysis and adipogenesis, whereas EPI and CORT-EPI-regulated genes were associated with responses to hormones, lipid and protein turnover, immune function, and transcriptional and epigenetic regulation of gene expression, suggesting that EPI has wide-ranging and prolonged impacts on the transcriptional landscape and function of blubber. Bisphenol treatments alone had a weak impact on gene expression compared with stress hormones. However, the combination of EPI with bisphenols altered expression of genes associated with inflammation, cell stress, DNA damage, regulation of nuclear hormone receptor activity, cell cycle, mitochondrial function, primary ciliogenesis, and lipid metabolism in blubber. Our results suggest that CORT, EPI, bisphenols, and their combinations impact cellular, immune, and metabolic homeostasis in marine mammal blubber, which may affect the ability of marine mammals to sustain prolonged fasting during reproduction and migration, renew tissues, and mount appropriate responses to immune challenges and additional stressors.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Kashiwabara, Lauren; Pirard, Laura; Debier, Cathy; Crocker, Daniel; and Khudyakov, Jane, "Effects of cortisol, epinephrine, and bisphenol contaminants on the transcriptional landscape of marine mammal blubber" (2023). Pacific Faculty Work. 128.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/all-faculty/128
