The effect of organotin compounds on gender specific androstenedione metabolism in the freshwater ramshorn snail Marisa cornuarietis

In a recent study, we demonstrated that androstenedione was mainly converted to testosterone (T) and 5α-dihydrotestosterone (DHT) by digestive gland/gonad complex microsomal fractions isolated from male Marisa cornuarietis, whereas it was primarily metabolized to 5α-dihydroandrostenedione (DHA) by females. In the present work, the sexual dimorphic metabolism of androstenedione was further investigated, and attributed to a higher 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase activity in males than in females. Thereafter, the hypothesis was tested that the metabolism of androstenedione might be affected by exposure to tributyltin (TBT) and triphenyltin (TPT), which are known to induce the development of imposex in several gastropod species. The in vitro metabolism of androstenedione, particularly the formation of DHA and DHT, was inhibited by both compounds. However, in vivo experiments showed no significant alteration in the metabolism of androstenedione in males, but a marginal (TBT) and a significant (TPT) inhibition of the formation of DHA in females exposed for 150 days to concentrations that had significantly induced the development of imposex. The ratio DHT + T/DHA, a possible indicator of metabolic androgenization, tended to increase (0.43 versus 0.35, p = 0.06) in TPT exposed females. However, this ratio never reached values comparable to those found in males (11 ± 1).