Reproduction hormones and

Sunscreens and their degradation metabolites analyzed in this study are potential inducers of the oestrogen (ER) and aryl hydrocarbon receptors (AhR, also known as Dioxin Receptor). Ectopic activation of these pathways can cause severe damage to organisms and their ecosystem by altering reproduction, hormonal and/or circulatory systems [73-75] as well as they have been associated with carcinogenic and mutagenic effects [76-78]. 

Chapin RE, Norton RM, Popp JA, et al. 1982. The effects of 2,5-hexanedione on reproductive hormones and testicular enzyme activities in the F-344 rat. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol 62 262-272. 

However, broadly steroids can be classified only in to two main classes sex or reproductive hormones and adrenocorticoid or adrenocortical hormones. 

Reproductive Hormones and Synaptogenesls Across the Menstrual Cycle... 

Hughes, C.L. (1988). Phytochemical mimicry of reproductive hormones and modulation of herbivore fertility by phytoestrogens. Environ. Health Perspectives, 78, 171-174. 

Azizi et al. (1995) investigated changes in serum concentrations of reproductive hormones and sperm counts in men who had been exposed to sulfur mustard during wartime. In 16 individuals, serum free and total testosterone and dehydroepiandrosterone were markedly decreased in the first five weeks after exposure but levels returned to normal by 12 weeks. In 28 of 42 men evaluated one to three years after exposure, sperm counts were less than 30 million ceUs/mL and follicle-stimulating hormone was increased compared to controls having sperm counts above 60 million cells/mL. Testicular biopsy of the test subjects revealed partial or complete arrest of spermatogenesis. 

Charkoudian, N. and Johnson, J.M., Female reproductive hormones and thermoregulatory control of skin blood flow, Exerc. Sport Sci. Rev., 2000, 28, 108-112. 

Few studies have been conducted on other invertebrate taxa but pentach-lorophenol exposure has been shown to affect daphnid reproductive capacity and sex steroid hormone metabolism and a high incidence of intersex has been observed in harpacticoid copepods near an Edinburgh sewage outfall. " ... 

However, not all EDs with a high log possess or require the ability to bioaccnmulate in order to be biologically active. For example, phthalate plasticisers, chlorophenols from Kraft mill effluents and natural or synthetic hormones can influence an organism s hormone profile and affect reproductive function and immune response without exhibiting bioaccnmiilation. ... 

Androgens, represented by testosterone, are male sex hormones involved in reproduction, behavior, and bone and muscle growth. 

In vivo studies in animals suggest that endosulfan may disrupt normal reproductive hormone levels in male animals, but that it is not an endocrine disrupter in females. Persistent depressed testicular testosterone was seen in male rats after intermediate duration oral exposures to endosulfan. In ovariectomized female rats, orally administered endosulfan did not induce normal development of female reproductive tissues, and in female mice and immature female rats, acute parenteral exposure to endosulfan did not affect several endocrine-related end points. In vitro studies have evaluated endosulfan for estrogen receptor (ER) and cytosolic protein binding affinity, ER-mediated reporter gene expression, estrogenic induction of cell proliferation, and alteration of relative abundance of active estradiol metabolites. Overall, in vitro evidence in favor of endosulfan estrogenicity indicates relatively weak potency compared to 17[3-estradiol. Apparently contradictory results were reported in different... 

Vertebrates share many functional similarities in their endocrine systems, including their regulatory control and the nature of the hormones and their receptors (Munkittrick et al. 1998). The reproductive abnormalities observed in wildlife populations may therefore potentially be extrapolated to effects in the reproductive health of human populations, if similar exposures to EDCs occur. 

Bretveld, R.W., Thomas, C.M.G., and Scheepers, P.T.J. et al. (2006). Pesticide exposure the hormonal function of the female reproductive system disrupted Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology 4. 

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