Triphenyl Phosphate at Environmental Levels Retarded Ovary Development and Reduced Egg Production in Japanese Medaka (Oryzias latipes)

Since triphenyl phosphate (TPhP) elicits both antiestrogenic activities via blocking the estrogen receptor (ER) and estrogenic activity by elevating 17β-estradiol (17β-E2) synthesis, its adverse effect on female reproduction is uncertain. In this study, we exposed Japanese medaka to TPhP at 131, 363, and 1773 ng/L for 100 days following hatching. TPhP significantly induced ovary retardation in all exposure groups (incidence: from 11.9 to 37.8%) and reduced egg production by 38.9 and 50.9% in the 363 and 1773 ng/L exposure groups, respectively. Vitellogenin (vtg) transcription was significantly downregulated by 35.4–57.4% after TPhP exposure, explaining the ovary retardation. Considering that 17β-E2 was only significantly decreased in the 1773 ng/L exposure group, ER antagonism could be the dominant contributor to the inhibition of vtg transcription and female reproductive toxicity of TPhP. As 4-hydroxyphenyl diphenyl phosphate, a metabolite of TPhP, was detected in livers with similar concentration [68.4–1237 ng/g lipid weight (lw)] to that of TPhP (485–1594 ng/g lw) and elicited medaka ER antagonistic activity (50% inhibitory concentration = 78.1 μM), TPhP and its metabolite should both contribute to the reproductive inhibition. We demonstrate that TPhP at environmentally relevant concentrations is toxic to female reproduction, which poses an ecological risk to wild fish at the population level.