Engaging Undergraduates in the Scientific Process: Exploring Invertebrate Endocrine Disruption

2016 ◽  
Vol 78 (5) ◽  
pp. 410-416 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Layton ◽  
Jason Belden
Keyword(s):  
Endocrine Disruption ◽  
Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals ◽  
Model Organism ◽  
Female Offspring ◽  
Reproduction Rate ◽  
Interest In Science ◽  
Endocrine Disrupting ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Reproductive Study ◽  
Analyze Data

Engaging students in the process of science to increase learning and critical thinking has become a key emphasis in undergraduate education. Introducing environmental topics, such as the effects of endocrine-disrupting chemicals, into undergraduate courses offers a new means to increase student engagement. Daphnia magna can serve as a model organism for endocrine disruption, and its ease of handling, rapid reproduction rate, and clearly defined endpoints make it useful in short-term, student research projects. The concept of endocrine disruption can be tested through a 21-day reproductive study of D. magna exposed to varying concentrations of the pesticide fenoxycarb. Students will observe an altered reproduction rate and increased production of males under conditions that would typically result only in the production of female offspring. This research system allows students to formulate hypotheses, set up experiments, analyze data, and present results, leading to a greater appreciation of and interest in science.

scholarly journals Epigenetics, Evolution, Endocrine Disruption, Health, and Disease

Endocrinology ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 147 (6) ◽  
pp. s4-s10 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Crews ◽  
John A. McLachlan
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
Endocrine Disruption ◽  
Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals ◽  
Epigenetic Mechanisms ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Risk Levels ◽  
Endocrine Disrupting ◽  
Increase Risk ◽  
Health And Disease

Abstract Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in the environment have been linked to human health and disease. This is particularly evident in compounds that mimic the effects of estrogens. Exposure to EDCs early in life can increase risk levels of compromised physical and mental health. Epigenetic mechanisms have been implicated in this process. Transgenerational consequences of EDC exposure is also discussed in both a proximate (mechanism) and ultimate (evolution) context as well as recent work suggesting how such transmission might become incorporated into the genome and subject to selection. We suggest a perspective for exploring and ultimately coming to understand diseases that may have environmental or endocrine origins.

Gestational Exposure to Common Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals and Their Impact on Neurodevelopment and Behavior

2020 ◽  
Vol 82 (1) ◽  
pp. 177-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dinushan Nesan ◽  
Deborah M. Kurrasch
Keyword(s):  
Endocrine Disruption ◽  
Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers ◽  
Animal Studies ◽  
Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals ◽  
Lactational Exposure ◽  
Gestational Exposure ◽  
Early Life Exposure ◽  
Endocrine Disrupting ◽  
Physiological Homeostasis ◽  
Nervous System Function

Endocrine disrupting chemicals are common in our environment and act on hormone systems and signaling pathways to alter physiological homeostasis. Gestational exposure can disrupt developmental programs, permanently altering tissues with impacts lasting into adulthood. The brain is a critical target for developmental endocrine disruption, resulting in altered neuroendocrine control of hormonal signaling, altered neurotransmitter control of nervous system function, and fundamental changes in behaviors such as learning, memory, and social interactions. Human cohort studies reveal correlations between maternal/fetal exposure to endocrine disruptors and incidence of neurodevelopmental disorders. Here, we summarize the major literature findings of endocrine disruption of neurodevelopment and concomitant changes in behavior by four major endocrine disruptor classes:bisphenol A, polychlorinated biphenyls, organophosphates, and polybrominated diphenyl ethers. We specifically review studies of gestational and/or lactational exposure to understand the effects of early life exposure to these compounds and summarize animal studies that help explain human correlative data.

scholarly journals Hormone-Activated Estrogen Receptors in Annelid Invertebrates: Implications for Evolution and Endocrine Disruption

Endocrinology ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 150 (4) ◽  
pp. 1731-1738 ◽  
Author(s):  
June Keay ◽  
Joseph W. Thornton
Keyword(s):  
Estrogen Receptors ◽  
Endocrine Disruption ◽  
Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals ◽  
Estrogen Signaling ◽  
Estrogen Sensitivity ◽  
Endocrine Disrupting ◽  
Platynereis Dumerilii ◽  
Bilaterian Animal ◽  
Capitella Capitata ◽  
And Behavior

As the primary mediators of estrogen signaling in vertebrates, estrogen receptors (ERs) play crucial roles in reproduction, development, and behavior. They are also the major mediators of endocrine disruption by xenobiotic pollutants that mimic or block estrogen action. ERs that are sensitive to estrogen and endocrine disrupters have long been thought to be restricted to vertebrates: although there is evidence for estrogen signaling in invertebrates, the only ERs studied to date, from mollusks and cephalochordates, have been insensitive to estrogen and therefore incapable of mediating estrogen signaling or disruption. To determine whether estrogen sensitivity is ancestral or a unique characteristic of vertebrate ERs, we isolated and characterized ERs from two annelids, Platynereis dumerilii and Capitella capitata, because annelids are the sister phylum to mollusks and have been shown to produce and respond to estrogens. Functional assays show that annelid ERs specifically activate transcription in response to low estrogen concentrations and bind estrogen with high affinity. Furthermore, numerous known endocrine-disrupting chemicals activate or antagonize the annelid ER. This is the first report of a hormone-activated invertebrate ER. Our results indicate that estrogen signaling via the ER is as ancient as the ancestral bilaterian animal and corroborate the estrogen sensitivity of the ancestral steroid receptor. They suggest that the taxonomic scope of endocrine disruption by xenoestrogens may be very broad and reveal how functional diversity evolved in a gene family central to animal endocrinology.

scholarly journals Assessment of exposure to Di (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) metabolites and Bisphenol A (BPA) and its importance for the prevention of cardiometabolic diseases

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabrizia Carli ◽  
Demetrio Ciociaro ◽  
Amalia Gastaldelli
Keyword(s):  
Bisphenol A ◽  
Small Sample Size ◽  
Accurate Determination ◽  
Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Alcoholic Fatty Liver ◽  
Cardiometabolic Diseases ◽  
Endocrine Disrupting ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Ethylhexyl Phthalate

AbstractExposomics analyses have highlighted the importance of biomonitoring of human exposure to pollutants, even non-persistent, for the prevention of non-communicable diseases like obesity, diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, atherosclerosis and cardiovascular diseases. Phthalates and bisphenol A (BPA) are endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) widely used in industry and in a large range of daily life products that increase the risk of endocrine and cardiometabolic diseases especially if the exposure starts during childhood. Thus, it is important the biomonitoring of exposure to these compounds not only in adulthood but also in childhood. This was the goal of the LIFE-PERSUADED project that measured the exposure to phthalates (DEHP metabolites, MEHP, MEHHP, MEOHP) and BPA in Italian mother-children couples of different ages. In this paper we describe the method that was set up for the LIFE PERSUADED project and validated during in the proficiency test (ICI/EQUAS) showing that accurate determination of urinary phthalates and BPA can be achieved starting from small sample size (0.5ml) using two MS techniques applied in cascade on the same deconjugated matrix.

Developing a Laboratory Animal Model for Perinatal Endocrine Disruption: The Hamster Chronicles

2002 ◽  
Vol 227 (9) ◽  
pp. 709-723 ◽  
Author(s):  
William J. Hendry ◽  
Daniel M. Sheehan ◽  
Shafiq A. Khan ◽  
Jeffrey V. May
Keyword(s):  
Endocrine Disruption ◽  
Reproductive Tract ◽  
Developmental Toxicity ◽  
Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals ◽  
Experimental System ◽  
Endocrine Disrupting ◽  
Considerable Concern ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Future Plans

At the biomedical, regulatory, and public level, considerable concern surrounds the concept that inappropriate exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals, especially during the prenatal and/or neonatal period, may disrupt normal reproductive tract development and adult function. The intent of this review was to 1. Describe some unique advantages of the hamster for perinatal endocrine disruptor (ED) studies, 2. Summarize the morphological and molecular consequences of exposure to the established perinatal ED, diethylstilbestrol, in the female and male hamster, 3. Present some new, histomorphological insight into the process of neonatal diethylstilbestrol-induced disruption in the hamster uterus, and 4. Introduce recent efforts and future plans to evaluate the potency and mechanism of action of other putative EDs in the hamster experimental system. Taken together, the findings indicate that the hamster represents a unique and sensitive in vivo system to probe the phenomenon of endocrine disruption. The spectrum of candidate endpoints includes developmental toxicity, neoplasia, and more subtle endpoints of reproductive dysfunction.

Hormonal Confusion

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoffrey C. Kabat
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Hormone Therapy ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Endocrine Disruption ◽  
Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals ◽  
Environmental Exposures ◽  
Environmental Estrogens ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Endocrine Disrupting

In the early 1990s concern emerged that hormonal compounds present in small amounts in food and water – “environmental estrogens” -- could be having subtle effects on human health and wildlife. This concern led to the formulation of the “endocrine-disruption hypothesis,” which has received widespread attention. Over twenty years of research have shown that environmental exposures to these substances is generally minute and are dwarfed by hormonal (phytoestrogenic) compounds in food, as well as by hormone therapy used by some women. Nevertheless, the issue of “endocrine-disrupting chemicals in the environment” is currently under debate within the European Union and elsewhere.

Anthropogenic tracers, endocrine disrupting chemicals, and endocrine disruption in Minnesota lakes

2010 ◽  
Vol 409 (1) ◽  
pp. 100-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey H. Writer ◽  
Larry B. Barber ◽  
Greg K. Brown ◽  
Howard E. Taylor ◽  
Richard L. Kiesling ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Endocrine Disruption ◽  
Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals ◽  
Endocrine Disrupting ◽  
Minnesota Lakes

scholarly journals Endocrine disrupting chemicals: harmful substances and how to test them

2002 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 489-494 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolás Olea-Serrano ◽  
Mariana F. Fernández-Cabrera ◽  
Rosa Pulgar-Encinas ◽  
Fátima Olea-Serrano
Keyword(s):  
Endocrine Disruptors ◽  
Endocrine Disruption ◽  
Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals ◽  
Chemical Substances ◽  
Dose Time ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Endocrine Disrupting ◽  
Regulatory Bodies ◽  
Estimation Of Risk

This paper presents an analysis of the opinions of different groups from: scientists, international regulatory bodies, non-governmental organizations and industry; with an interest in the problem of identifying chemical substances with endocrine disrupting activity. There is also discussion of the consequences that exposure to endocrine disruptors may have for human health, considering concrete issues related to: the estimation of risk; the tests that must be used to detect endocrine disruption; the difficulties to establish an association between dose, time of exposure, individual susceptibility, and effect; and the attempts to create a census of endocrine disruptors. Finally, it is proposed that not all hormonal mimics should be included under the single generic denomination of endocrine disruptors.

scholarly journals Executive Summary to EDC-2: The Endocrine Society's Second Scientific Statement on Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals

2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (6) ◽  
pp. 593-602 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. C. Gore ◽  
V. A. Chappell ◽  
S. E. Fenton ◽  
J. A. Flaws ◽  
A. Nadal ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Endocrine Disruption ◽  
Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals ◽  
Healthcare Providers ◽  
Male Reproduction ◽  
Female Reproduction ◽  
Executive Summary ◽  
Obesity And Diabetes ◽  
Endocrine Disrupting ◽  
Scientific Statement ◽  
Dose Responses

Abstract This Executive Summary to the Endocrine Society's second Scientific Statement on environmental endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) provides a synthesis of the key points of the complete statement. The full Scientific Statement represents a comprehensive review of the literature on seven topics for which there is strong mechanistic, experimental, animal, and epidemiological evidence for endocrine disruption, namely: obesity and diabetes, female reproduction, male reproduction, hormone-sensitive cancers in females, prostate cancer, thyroid, and neurodevelopment and neuroendocrine systems. EDCs such as bisphenol A, phthalates, pesticides, persistent organic pollutants such as polychlorinated biphenyls, polybrominated diethyl ethers, and dioxins were emphasized because these chemicals had the greatest depth and breadth of available information. The Statement also included thorough coverage of studies of developmental exposures to EDCs, especially in the fetus and infant, because these are critical life stages during which perturbations of hormones can increase the probability of a disease or dysfunction later in life. A conclusion of the Statement is that publications over the past 5 years have led to a much fuller understanding of the endocrine principles by which EDCs act, including nonmonotonic dose-responses, low-dose effects, and developmental vulnerability. These findings will prove useful to researchers, physicians, and other healthcare providers in translating the science of endocrine disruption to improved public health.

In utero exposure to persistent and nonpersistent endocrine-disrupting chemicals and anogenital distance. A systematic review of epidemiological studies†

2019 ◽  
Vol 102 (2) ◽  
pp. 276-291 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Nelson ◽  
Ding-Yuan Liu ◽  
Yin Yang ◽  
Zhao-Hui Zhong ◽  
Ying-Xiong Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals ◽  
Female Offspring ◽  
Epidemiological Studies ◽  
In Utero ◽  
In Utero Exposure ◽  
Inverse Association ◽  
Anthropometric Parameter ◽  
Cumulative Impact ◽  
Anogenital Distance ◽  
Endocrine Disrupting

Abstract Anti-androgenic endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) can cross the placenta to modify early offspring sexual dimorphic markers. These changes are linked to anogenital distance (AGD), which is an androgen-sensitive anthropometric parameter used as a biomarker of perineal growth and caudal migration of the genital tubercle. This review aimed to summarize strength of evidence for associations of in utero exposure to EDCs with AGD and to identify gaps and limitations in the literature so as to inform future research. We performed an electronic search of English literature in September 2019 in medical literature analysis and retrieval system online (MEDLINE), Web of Science and Toxline. We included epidemiological studies that examined in utero exposure to persistent and nonpersistent EDCs and considered AGD in offspring as an outcome. Our review contained 16 investigations examining exposure to persistent EDCs (nine studies) and nonpersistent EDCs (seven studies). Some individual studies reported an inverse association between exposure to bisphenol A (BPA), dioxins, perfluoroalkyl substances, and organochlorides and AGD in both male and female offspring. Meta-analysis of three studies found a small reduction of AGD in female offspring exposed to BPA. The number of studies per chemical is small, and number of subjects examined is limited; so, replication of these results is needed. To achieve more specificity and better replication of results, future studies should establish the association of nonpersistent EDCs using multiple urine samples, evaluate the cumulative impact of exposure to a mixture of anti-androgenic chemicals, and offer adequate consideration of more maternal- and children-related confounding factors.

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