Preliminary work on vitellogenin purification from serum of Caretta caretta collected at the WWF Seaturtle Rescue Center of Lampedusa, Sicily (Italy).

The presence of vitellogenin in male is a useful marker of endocrine disruption in oviparous vertebrates such as seaturtles and its quantification helps to evaluate the habitats’ quality. Considering the lack of commercial systems for vitellogenin analysis and the lack of specific standards for seaturtles we focused the work on the definition of a reliable method for vitellogenin purification and quantification in Caretta caretta. Heparinized blood (2 cc) samples were collected, after morphological measurement, from individuals of Caretta caretta hospitalized at the WWF Seaturtle Rescue Center Lampedusa, Sicily (Italy) and obtained plasma was stored frozen at –20°C till analysis. For VTG purification 100 ml of each serum’s samples was used. The VTG purification was obtained by precipitation while its quantification was performed by spectrophotometric method, using standard staining and protocol (“DC protein assay”, BIORAD). VTG levels are in agreement with subjects gender. The marker was detected in all animals, even if in male turtles the levels were very low. Overall, there seems to be no risk for reproductive health of seaturtles from Sicily.