“More toxic doesn’t mean the other one’s not toxic. So at environmental levels, the chemicals in the Alberta oil sands would cause similar problems. These are not safe chemicals by any imagination. They’re just less toxic than the other ones,” said U of O professor Vance Trudeau.
University of Ottawa researchers Kimberly Mitchell and Vance Trudeau have discovered a new hormone in zebrafish that could help combat human infertility. The researchers were accompanied by a group of students who observed Zebrafish mating patterns and were instrumental in completing the project.
For four days, Trudeau’s team exposed zebrafish to Prozac as embryos. Shortly after hatching, the fish were showing lower cortisol levels compared to those not exposed to the drug. When exposed to stress or new environments, the male fish responded less.
Three University of Ottawa professors will share a $1.9-million grant from the federal government to support research on environmental risks.
Working in conjunction with the Nashville Zoo, Trudeau developed a formula, which was originally used to breed frogs, to help with the breeding of the eastern hellbender, an extremely rare type of salamander found in the southern and eastern United States.
