Estrogenicity environmental chemicals

Shelby MD, Newbold RR, Tully DB, etal. 1996. Assessing environmental chemicals for estrogenicity using a combination of in vitro and in vivo assays. Environ Health Perspect 104(12) 1296-1300. 

Vonier PM, Crain DA, McLachlan JA, et al. 1996. Interaction of environmental chemicals with the estrogen and progesterone receptors from the oviduct of the American alligator. Environ Health Perspect 104(12) 1318-1322. 

Jobling, S., Reynolds, T., and White, R. et al. (1995). A variety of environmentally persistent chemicals, including some phthalate plasticizers, are weakly estrogenic. Environmental Health Perspectives 103, 582-587. 

Steven F. Arnold. Synergistic Activation of Estrogen Receptor with Combinations of Environmental Chemicals. Science. 272 (June 7, 1996) 1489-1492. 

The claims that tiny amounts of chemicals with estrogenic (hormonal) activity caused a multitude of health effects have some plausibility. Hormones, present in the body at very low concentrations, affect many biochemical reactions, and it s possible that environmental chemicals that mimic them would affect humans. 

S.F. Arnold, D.M. Klotz, B.M. Collins, P.M. Vonier, L.J. Guillette Jr., and J.A. McLachlan, Synergistic activation of estrogen receptor with combinations of environmental chemicals. Science 272 1489, 1996. 

Environmental chemicals such as p-nonylphenol (NP), 4-ferf.-octylphenol (OP), 4-ferf.-pentylphenol (TPP), bisphenol-A (BPA), tetrabromobisphenol-A (TBBA), butylbenzylphthalate (BBP), di- -butylphthalate (DBP), butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), p-chloro-ra-cresol, p-chloro-o-cresol, ds-nonachlor, frans-nonachlor, and the herbicide alachlor [2-chloro-iV-(2,6-diethylphenyl)-N-(methoxymethyl) acetamide] have been discovered to be weakly estrogenic [128,129,137,138]. 

Roy D, Palangat M, Chen C-W, Thomas RD, Colerangle J, Atkinson A, Yan Z-J. Biochemical and molecular changes at the cellular level in response to exposure to environmental estrogen-like chemicals. J Toxicol Environ Health 1997 50 1-29. 

Note Estradiol, DDD, and related compounds were strong inhibitors of radioactive estradiol to the receptor. IC50 for the inhibition of [3H]17B-estradiol binding to alligator estrogen receptor of several environmental chemicals are given. 

Vonier, P.M., D.A. Crane, J.A. Mclachlan, L.J. Guillette, Jr., and S.F. Arnold. 1996. Interactions of environmental chemicals with estrogen and progesterone receptors from the oviduct of the Amercian alligator. Environ. Health Per sped. 104 1318-1322. 

Arnold SF, Vonier PM, Collins BM, et al. In vitro synergistic interaction of alligator and human estrogen receptors with combinations of environmental chemicals. Environ Health Perspect 1997 105 (Suppl 3) 615 18. 

Garritano S, Pinto B, Calderisi M, Cirillo T, et al. Estrogen-like activity of seafood related to environmental chemical contaminants. Environ Health 2006 5(1) 9. 

Klotz DM, Beckman BS, Hill SM, et al. Identification of environmental chemicals with estrogenic activity using a combination of in vitro assays. Environ Health Perspect 1996 104(10) 1084-9. 

A different form of toxicity occurs in the estrogen and androgen receptors when environmental chemicals have the ability to bind to them. Acting both as agonists or antagonists, these so-called endocrine disruptors are responsible for a number of hormone-related cancers, in addition to their roles in adversely affecting sexual development and reproductive fertility. 

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