The use of biomarkers in environmental toxicology is becoming
increasingly important. The need to detect and assess the impact of
pollutants, particularly at low, sublethal concentrations has led to
the development of a range of biomarkers measured in a number of
different species. Invertebrates have received little attention about
signaling potential environmental endocrine disruption compared
to vertebrates. This can be largely attributed to the shortage of basic
knowledge on their endocrine systems. Nevertheless, in the last
few years, knowledge on the control of vitellogenesis in arthropods
has been enlarged mainly in insects and crustacean, that have become
appropriate models to investigate those mechanisms dealing
with the hormonal control at cellular and molecular levels
(Billinghurst et al., 2000; Tuberty et al., 2002).