Endocrine-disrupting pesticides and selected hormonally dependent cancers.
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Pesticides and other endocrine disrupters represent a credible "new" risk factor for hormonally dependent cancers. To date, most work has centered on breast cancer, and most studies have not shown increased risks. Additional epidemiologic investigations are warranted, but they would benefit from a better understanding of the mechanisms, dose, and co-factors involved. (+info)
Agricultural chemicals and endocrine-mediated chronic toxicity or carcinogenicity.
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This brief review summarizes information on the endocrine effects and mechanisms of action of certain pesticides and considers whether exposure to pesticides with endocrine activity may play a role in human endocrine-related tumors of the breast, testis, prostate, and endometrium. Both animal and human data are considered. If animal data are to be used effectively for predicting human risk, a thorough understanding of comparative endocrinology and the underlying endocrine and pathological mechanisms contained in the animal model is needed. It is concluded that the evidence does not support an association between organochlorine pesticides and breast cancer, while the evidence on other tumor sites is too sparse to draw any conclusions concerning pesticides. (+info)
Assessing the sensitivity of different life stages for sexual disruption in roach (Rutilus rutilus) exposed to effluents from wastewater treatment works.
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Surveys of U.K. rivers have shown a high incidence of sexual disruption in populations of wild roach (Rutilus rutilus) living downstream from wastewater treatment works (WwTW), and the degree of intersex (gonads containing both male and female structural characteristics) has been correlated with the concentration of effluent in those rivers. In this study, we investigated feminized responses to two estrogenic WwTWs in roach exposed for periods during life stages of germ cell division (early life and the postspawning period). Roach were exposed as embryos from fertilization up to 300 days posthatch (dph; to include the period of gonadal sex differentiation) or as postspawning adult males, and including fish that had received previous estrogen exposure, for either 60 or 120 days when the annual event of germ cell proliferation occurs. Both effluents induced vitellogenin synthesis in both life stages studied, and the magnitude of the vitellogenic responses paralleled the effluent content of steroid estrogens. Feminization of the reproductive ducts occurred in male fish in a concentration-dependent manner when the exposure occurred during early life, but we found no effects on the reproductive ducts in adult males. Depuration studies (maintenance of fish in clean water after exposure to WwTW effluent) confirmed that the feminization of the reproductive duct was permanent. We found no evidence of ovotestis development in fish that had no previous estrogen exposure for any of the treatments. In wild adult roach that had previously received exposure to estrogen and were intersex, the degree of intersex increased during the study period, but this was not related to the immediate effluent exposure, suggesting a previously determined programming of ovotestis formation. (+info)
Thyroid-hormone-disrupting chemicals: evidence for dose-dependent additivity or synergism.
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Endocrine disruption from environmental contaminants has been linked to a broad spectrum of adverse outcomes. One concern about endocrine-disrupting xenobiotics is the potential for additive or synergistic (i.e., greater-than-additive) effects of mixtures. A short-term dosing model to examine the effects of environmental mixtures on thyroid homeostasis has been developed. Prototypic thyroid-disrupting chemicals (TDCs) such as dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and polybrominated diphenyl ethers have been shown to alter thyroid hormone homeostasis in this model primarily by up-regulating hepatic catabolism of thyroid hormones via at least two mechanisms. Our present effort tested the hypothesis that a mixture of TDCs will affect serum total thyroxine (T4) concentrations in a dose-additive manner. Young female Long-Evans rats were dosed via gavage with 18 different polyhalogenated aromatic hydrocarbons [2 dioxins, 4 dibenzofurans, and 12 PCBs, including dioxin-like and non-dioxin-like PCBs] for 4 consecutive days. Serum total T4 was measured via radioimmunoassay in samples collected 24 hr after the last dose. Extensive dose-response functions (based on seven to nine doses per chemical) were determined for individual chemicals. A mixture was custom synthesized with the ratio of chemicals based on environmental concentrations. Serial dilutions of this mixture ranged from approximately background levels to 100-fold greater than background human daily intakes. Six serial dilutions of the mixture were tested in the same 4-day assay. Doses of individual chemicals that were associated with a 30% TH decrease from control (ED30), as well as predicted mixture outcomes were calculated using a flexible single-chemical-required method applicable to chemicals with differing dose thresholds and maximum-effect asymptotes. The single-chemical data were modeled without and with the mixture data to determine, respectively, the expected mixture response (the additivity model) and the experimentally observed mixture response (the empirical model). A likelihood-ratio test revealed statistically significant departure from dose additivity. There was no deviation from additivity at the lowest doses of the mixture, but there was a greater-than-additive effect at the three highest mixtures doses. At high doses the additivity model underpredicted the empirical effects by 2- to 3-fold. These are the first results to suggest dose-dependent additivity and synergism in TDCs that may act via different mechanisms in a complex mixture. The results imply that cumulative risk approaches be considered when assessing the risk of exposure to chemical mixtures that contain TDCs. (+info)
A rapid, physiologic protocol for testing transcriptional effects of thyroid-disrupting agents in premetamorphic Xenopus tadpoles.
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Increasing numbers of substances present in the environment are postulated to have endocrine-disrupting effects on vertebrate populations. However, data on disruption of thyroid signaling are fragmentary, particularly at the molecular level. Thyroid hormone (TH; triiodothyronine, T3) acts principally by modulating transcription from target genes; thus, thyroid signaling is particularly amenable to analysis with a transcriptional assay. Also, T3 orchestrates amphibian metamorphosis, thereby providing an exceptional model for identifying thyroid-disrupting chemicals. We combined these two advantages to develop a method for following and quantifying the transcriptional action of T3 in Xenopus laevis tadpoles. This technology provides a means of assessing thyroid activity at the molecular level in a physiologically relevant situation. Moreover, translucent tadpoles are amenable to "on-line" imaging with fluorescent reporter constructs that facilitate in vivo measurement of transcriptional activity. We adapted transgenesis with TH-responsive elements coupled to either luciferase or green fluorescent protein to follow T3-dependent transcription in vivo. To reduce time of exposure and to synchronize responses, we optimized a physiologic pretreatment protocol that induced competence to respond to T3 and thus to assess T3 effects and T3 disruption within 48 hr. This pretreatment protocol was based on a short (24 hr), weak (10(-12) M) pulse of T3 that induced TH receptors, facilitating and synchronizing the transcriptional responses. This protocol was successfully applied to somatic and germinal transgenesis with both reporter systems. Finally, we show that the transcriptional assay allows detection of the thyroid-disrupting activity of environmentally relevant concentrations (10(-8) M) of acetochlor, a persistent herbicide. (+info)
Effect of methoxychlor and estradiol on cytochrome p450 enzymes in the mouse ovarian surface epithelium.
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Although the ovarian surface epithelium (OSE) is responsive to hormones and endocrine-disrupting chemicals, little information is available on the metabolizing capabilities of the OSE. Thus, we tested the hypothesis that the OSE is capable of expressing genes regulating phase I metabolism of estrogen and the estrogenic endocrine disruptor methoxychlor (MXC). To test this hypothesis, we isolated mouse OSE cells and cultured them with vehicle (dimethylsulfoxide; DMSO), 3 microM MXC, or 0.1 microM 17beta-estradiol (E2) +/- the anti-estrogen ICI 182,780 (1 microM) for 14 days. After culture, the cells were subjected to quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction for cytochrome P450s (CYPs) 1A1, 1B1, 2C29, and 1A2, and estrogen receptor alpha (ERalpha). Our results indicate that E2 and MXC did not alter the expression of CYP1A1 or CYP1A2. In contrast, E2 significantly increased expression of CYP1B1 compared to controls (DMSO = 0.93 +/- 0.1, E2 = 3.12 +/- 0.64 genomic equivalents (GE), n = 4, p < or = 0.01). The E2-induced increase in CYP1B1 was abolished by co-treatment with ICI 182,780 (0.41 +/- 0.17 GE). MXC treatment did not affect CYP1B1 expression. Both MXC and E2 increased expression of CYP2C29 (DMSO = 0.02 +/- 0.003; MXC = 0.04 +/- 0.008; E2 = 0.46 +/- 0.03 GE, n = 4, p < or = 0.05). MXC- and E2-induced elevations in CYP2C29 were abolished by co-treatment with ICI 182,780 (0.02 +/- 0.005; 0.02 +/- 0.07 GE). In addition, E2 increased ERalpha expression 15-fold compared to controls (DMSO = 1.10 +/- 0.09, E2 = 15.0 +/- 3.60 GE, n = 3, p < or = 0.05), and ICI 182,780 abolished the E2-induced increase in ERalpha expression (1.85 +/- 1.09 GE). MXC treatment did not affect ERalpha expression. These data indicate that the OSE expresses enzymes known to metabolize native and xenoestrogens and that MXC and E2 modulate expression of some of them through ER-linked mechanisms. (+info)
Biology and physiology of Calbindin-D9k in female reproductive tissues: involvement of steroids and endocrine disruptors.
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Although Calbindin-D9k (CaBP-9k), a cytosolic calcium binding protein which has calcium binding sites, is expressed in various tissues, i.e., intestine, uterus, and placenta, potential roles of this gene and its protein are not clearly understood. Uterine CaBP-9k may be involved in controlling myometrial activity related with intracellular calcium level and is not under the control of vitamin D despite the presence of vitamin D receptors. But, it is under the control of the sex steroid hormones, estrogen (E2) and progesterone (P4), in female reproductive systems including the uterus and placenta. Thus, in this review, we summarize recent research literature in regards to the expression and regulation of CaBP-9k in mammals and introduce the research data of recent studies by us and others. (+info)
Induction and inhibition of oocyte maturation by EDCs in zebrafish.
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BACKGROUND: Oocyte maturation in lower vertebrates is triggered by maturation-inducing hormone (MIH), which acts on unidentified receptors on the oocyte surface and induces the activation of maturation-promoting factor (MPF) in the oocyte cytoplasm. We previously described the induction of oocyte maturation in fish by an endocrine-disrupting chemical (EDC), diethylstilbestrol (DES), a nonsteroidal estrogen. METHODS: In this study, stimulatory and inhibitory effects of EDCs and natural steroids on oocyte maturation were examined in zebrafish. For effective agents, some details about the mechanism in induction or inhibition of maturation were examined. Possible groups of DES interacting with the MIH receptor are discussed based on relative potency of steroids to induce maturation. RESULTS: Among agents tested, tamoxifen (TAM) and its metabolite 4-hydroxytamoxifen (4-OHT) showed stimulatory activity similar to DES. The time courses of the change in germinal vesicle breakdown and an intracellular molecular event (the synthesis of cyclin B) induced by TAM were indistinguishable from those induced by MIH. In contrast, pentachlorophenol (PCP) had a potent inhibitory effect on MIH-induced oocyte maturation. PCP inhibited not only MIH-induced maturation but also DES- and TAM-induced maturation. Methoxychlor also inhibited maturation when oocytes were pre-treated with this agent. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that EDCs act as agonists or antagonists in the induction of oocyte maturation in fish. (+info)