Epigenetics, estrogenic endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), and the brain

Endocrine disruption is a hypothesis of common mode of action that may define a set of structurally varied chemicals, both natural and synthetic. Their common mode of action may suggest that they produce or contribute to similar toxic effects, although this has been difficult to demonstrate. Insights from developmental biology suggest that development of hormone sensitive systems, such as the brain and the genitourinary tract, may be particularly sensitive to EDCs. Because these systems are both organized and later activated by hormones, the brain and vagina may be valuable model systems to study the toxicity of EDCs in females and to elucidate mechanisms whereby early exposures appear to affect long term function.

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Screening California surface waters for estrogenic endocrine disrupting chemicals (EEDC) with a juvenile rainbow trout liver vitellogenin mRNA procedure

The Science of The Total Environment ◽

10.1016/j.scitotenv.2007.06.026 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 385 (1-3) ◽

pp. 66-79 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

V DEVLAMING ◽

A BIALES ◽

D RIORDAN ◽

D MARKIEWICZ ◽

R HOLMES ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Rainbow Trout ◽

Surface Waters ◽

Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals ◽

Juvenile Rainbow Trout ◽

Endocrine Disrupting ◽

Rainbow Trout Liver ◽

Estrogenic Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals ◽

Vitellogenin Mrna

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Serum Persistent Organic Pollutants and Duration of Lactation among Mexican-American Women

Journal of Environmental and Public Health ◽

10.1155/2010/861757 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 2010 ◽

pp. 1-11 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Rosana H. Weldon ◽

Monique Webster ◽

Kim G. Harley ◽

Asa Bradman ◽

Laura Fenster ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Organic Pollutants ◽

Persistent Organic Pollutants ◽

Low Income ◽

Mexican American ◽

Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals ◽

Breastfeeding Duration ◽

Mexican American Women ◽

Endocrine Disrupting ◽

Lactation Duration ◽

Estrogenic Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals

Background. Research suggests that estrogenic endocrine-disrupting chemicals interfere with lactation.Objectives. (1) to determine if estrogenic persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are associated with shortened lactation duration; (2) to determine whether previous breastfeeding history biases associations.Methods and Results. We measured selected organochlorines and polychlorinated biphenyls (p,p′-DDE,p,p′-DDT,o,p′-DDT,β-hexachlorocyclohexane, hexachlorobenzene, and PCBs 44, 49, 52, 118, 138, 153, and 180) in serum from 366 low-income, Mexican-American pregnant women living in an agricultural region of California and assessed breastfeeding duration by questionnaires. We found no association between DDE, DDT, or estrogenic POPs with shortened lactation duration, but rather associations for two potentially estrogenic POPs with lengthened lactation duration arose (HR [95% CI]: 0.6 [0.4, 0.8] forp,p′-DDE & 0.8 [0.6, 1.0] for PCB 52). Associations between antiestrogenic POPs (PCBs 138 and 180) and shortened lactation duration were attributed to a lactation history bias.Conclusion. Estrogenic POPs were not associated with shortened lactation duration, but may be associated with longer lactation duration.

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Sex-Change Chemicals and their Influence on the Brain

The Scientific World JOURNAL ◽

10.1100/tsw.2001.362 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 1 ◽

pp. 681-683 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Catherine A. Harris

Keyword(s):

Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals ◽

Reproductive Disorders ◽

Developmental Abnormalities ◽

Scientific World ◽

Endocrine Disrupting ◽

Causative Agents ◽

Wide Variability ◽

Wildlife Populations ◽

Natural Hormones ◽

The Brain

The potential for man-made chemicals to mimic or antagonise natural hormones is a controversial issue, but one for which increasing amounts of evidence are being gathered worldwide. The controversy surrounds not so much the matter of whether these chemicals can mimic hormones invitro— this phenomenon has been widely accepted in the scientific world — but more whether, as a result, they can disrupt reproduction in a wildlife situation. It has, nevertheless, been acknowledged that many wildlife populations are exhibiting reproductive and/or developmental abnormalities such as intersex gonads in wild roach populations in the U.K.[1] and various reproductive disorders in alligators in Lake Apopka, Florida[2]. However, the causative agents for many of these effects are difficult to specify, due to the extensive mixtures of chemicals — each of which may act via different pathways — to which wild populations are exposed, together with the wide variability observed even in natural (uncontaminated) habitats. As a result, any information detailing fundamental mechanism of action of the so-called endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) is of use in determining whether or not these chemicals, as they are present in the environment, may in fact be capable of causing some of the effects observed in wildlife over recent years.

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