Distribution of vitellogenin in zebrafish (Danio rerio) tissues for biomarker analysis

•Vitellogenin was present in the liver as well as in various extrahepatic tissues.•The induction of vitellogenin by EE2 in skin and eye was in a dose-dependent manner.•The induction of vitellogenin by EE2 in skin and eye was in a time-dependent manner.•Skin and eye are alternative tissues for vitellogenin analysis as biomarker. Vitellogenin (VTG), the precursor of yolk proteins, is a sensitive biomarker of estrogenic contamination in aquatic environments. Traditionally, VTG was believed to be synthesized under the control of estrogen in the livers of mature females and then secreted into the blood, before being taken up by the ovaries and cleaved into lipovitellin and phosvitin, which provide nutrition for developing embryos. However, recent studies have reported that the liver is not the only tissue to express VTG and this has led to questions over the precise tissue distribution of VTG in zebrafish. Moreover, studies in zebrafish on the expression of the VTG protein are rare. Using Western blotting and reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction, this present study reports that the VTG protein and VTG1 mRNA were detected not only in the liver, but also in various extrahepatic tissues, including the heart, spleen, kidney, skin, muscle, gill, eye and brain tissues, of female and 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2)-treated male zebrafish. Due to the high expression levels of VTG and the ease of taking samples, skin and eye tissues were chosen to evaluate the effects of varying doses and exposure times of EE2 on male zebrafish. The VTG gene and protein were induced by EE2 exposure in liver, skin and eye tissues of male zebrafish in dose- and time-dependent patterns. Therefore, we suggest that zebrafish skin and eye tissues may be alternatives to plasma and liver tissues for VTG biomarker analysis.