The teratogenic effects of sediments from the Yangtze Estuary and adjacent bay, China, on frog embryos

In recent decades, the Yangtze (Changjiang) Estuary has suffered great environmental changes due to intensive human activities in the Yangtze River basin. This study assessed the ecotoxicity of sediments from the Yangtze Estuary with the frog embryo teratogenesis assay—Xenopus (FETAX). The results showed that the sediment extracts induced multiple malformations in embryos of Xenopus tropicalis. In the embryos treated with nearshore extracts, abnormal eyes, narrow fins and hypopigmentation were the dominant phenotypes, followed by enlarged proctodeums. In these embryos, the percentages of total malformations were greater than 50 % at five sampling sites and less than 40 % at the other seven sites. However, in the embryos treated with the offshore extracts, elongation of the proctodeums was the dominant phenotype, followed by bent tails. The percentages of total malformations ranged from 25 to 45 %. Comparatively, the embryos treated with extracts from the nearshore zone showed a greater variety of phenotypes than those treated with extracts from the offshore zone. These results suggest that the sediments showed high teratogenicity to the amphibian embryos. The results also indicate that the teratogencity to X. tropicalis embryos is a useful indicator of the pollution of sediments.