scholarly journals Divergent Evolution of Progesterone and Mineralocorticoid Receptors in Terrestrial Vertebrates and Fish Influences Endocrine Disruption

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Baker
Keyword(s):  
Binding Sites ◽  
Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals ◽  
Divergent Evolution ◽  
Industrial Chemicals ◽  
Elephant Shark ◽  
Terrestrial Vertebrates ◽  
Terrestrial Vertebrate ◽  
Endocrine Disrupting ◽  
Development And Differentiation ◽  
Potent Agonist

There is much concern about disruption of endocrine physiology regulated by steroid hormones in humans, other terrestrial vertebrates and fish by industrial chemicals, such as bisphenol A, and pesticides, such as DDT. These endocrine-disrupting chemicals influence steroid-mediated physiology in humans and other vertebrates by competing with steroids for receptor binding sites, disrupting diverse responses involved in reproduction, development and differentiation. Here I discuss that due to evolution of the progesterone receptor (PR) and mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) after ray-finned fish and terrestrial vertebrates diverged from a common ancestor, each receptor evolved to respond to different steroids in ray-finned fish and terrestrial vertebrates. In elephant shark, a cartilaginous fish, ancestral to ray-finned fish and terrestrial vertebrates, both progesterone and 17,20-beta-dihydroxy-progesterone activate the PR. During the evolution of ray-finned fish and terrestrial vertebrates, the PR in terrestrial vertebrates continued responding to progesterone and evolved to weakly respond to 17,20-beta-dihydroxy-progesterone. In contrast, the physiological progestin for the PR in zebrafish and other ray-finned fish is 17,20-beta-dihydroxy-progesterone, and ray-finned fish PR responds weakly to progesterone. The MR in fish and terrestrial vertebrates also diverged to have different responses to progesterone. Progesterone is a potent agonist for elephant shark MR, zebrafish MR and other fish MRs, in contrast to progesterone’s opposite activity as an antagonist for aldosterone, the physiological mineralocorticoid for human MR. These different physiological ligands for fish and terrestrial vertebrate PR and MR need to be considered in applying data for their disruption by chemicals in fish and terrestrial vertebrates to each other.

scholarly journals Progesterone: An Enigmatic Ligand for the Mineralocorticoid Receptor

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Baker ◽  
Yoshinao Katsu
Keyword(s):  
Mineralocorticoid Receptor ◽  
Physiological Role ◽  
Reproductive Physiology ◽  
Elephant Shark ◽  
Terrestrial Vertebrates ◽  
High Affinity ◽  
Reproductive Tissues ◽  
Terrestrial Vertebrate ◽  
Functional Consequences ◽  
Cartilaginous Fishes

The progesterone receptor (PR) mediates progesterone regulation of female reproductive physiology, as well as gene transcription in non-reproductive tissues, such as brain, bone, lung and vasculature, in both women and men. An unusual property of progesterone is its high affinity for the mineralocorticoid receptor (MR), which regulates electrolyte transport in the kidney in humans and other terrestrial vertebrates. In humans, rats, alligators and frogs, progesterone antagonizes activation of the MR by aldosterone, the physiological mineralocorticoid in terrestrial vertebrates. In contrast, in elephant shark, ray-finned fishes and chickens, progesterone activates the MR. Interestingly, cartilaginous fishes and ray-finned fishes do not synthesize aldosterone, raising the question of which steroid(s) activate the MR in cartilaginous fishes and ray-finned fishes. The simpler synthesis of progesterone, compared to cortisol and other corticosteroids, makes progesterone a candidate physiological activator of the MR in elephant sharks and ray-finned fishes. Elephant shark and ray-finned fish MRs are expressed in diverse tissues, including heart, brain and lung, as well as, ovary and testis, two reproductive tissues that are targets for progesterone, which together suggests a multi-faceted physiological role for progesterone activation of the MR in elephant shark and ray-finned fish. The functional consequences of progesterone as an antagonist of some terrestrial vertebrate MRs and as an agonist of fish and chicken MRs are not fully understood. Indeed, little is known of physiological activities of progesterone via any vertebrate MR.

Endocrine Disruptors in the Environment

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy Langston
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals ◽  
Environmental Chemicals ◽  
Pharmaceutical Drugs ◽  
Industrial Chemicals ◽  
World War ◽  
Synthetic Chemicals ◽  
Endocrine Disrupting ◽  
Post War

Since World War II, the production of synthetic chemicals has increased more than 30-fold due to the post-war boom in petrochemical exploration, manufacture, and marketing. The modern chemical industry, now a global enterprise of $2 trillion annually, is central to the world economy, as it generates millions of jobs and consumes vast quantities of energy and raw materials. Today, more than 70,000 different industrial chemicals are synthesized and sold each year (Chandler 2005; McCoy et al. 2006). New technologies and methods for the detection of these synthetic chemicals have drawn increasing attention to the pervasive and persistent presence of hormone-disrupting chemicals in our lives. Hormones—the chemicals that deliver messages throughout the body in order to coordinate physical processes—are deeply sensitive to external interference, and the consequences of such interference are becoming ever more apparent. In July 2005, the Centers for Disease Control (2005) released its Third National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals, revealing that industrial chemicals now permeate bodies and ecosystems. Many of these chemicals can interfere with the body’s hormonal signaling system (called the endocrine system), and many persistently resist the metabolic processes that bind and break down natural hormones. More than 358 industrial chemicals and pesticides have been detected in the cord blood of minority American infants (Environmental Working Group 2009). Accumulating data suggests that reproductive problems are also increasing across a broad range of animals, from Great Lakes fish to people. Many researchers suspect that the culprits are environmental exposures to synthetic chemicals that disrupt hormonal signals, particularly in the developing fetus. Endocrine-disrupting chemicals are not rare; they include the most common synthetic chemicals in production, such as many pesticides, plastics, and pharmaceutical drugs. Since World War II, synthetic endocrine-disrupting chemicals have permeated bodies and ecosystems throughout the globe, potentially with profound health and ecological effects (Krimsky 2000). Hormones are chemical signals that regulate communication among cells and organs, thus orchestrating a complex process of fetal development that relies on precise dosage and timing.

scholarly journals Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals: An Endocrine Society Scientific Statement

2009 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 293-342 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evanthia Diamanti-Kandarakis ◽  
Jean-Pierre Bourguignon ◽  
Linda C. Giudice ◽  
Russ Hauser ◽  
Gail S. Prins ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Broad Class ◽  
Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals ◽  
Consumer Products ◽  
Breast Development ◽  
Industrial Chemicals ◽  
Female Reproduction ◽  
Endocrine Society ◽  
In Vivo Models ◽  
Endocrine Disrupting ◽  
Scientific Statement

Abstract There is growing interest in the possible health threat posed by endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), which are substances in our environment, food, and consumer products that interfere with hormone biosynthesis, metabolism, or action resulting in a deviation from normal homeostatic control or reproduction. In this first Scientific Statement of The Endocrine Society, we present the evidence that endocrine disruptors have effects on male and female reproduction, breast development and cancer, prostate cancer, neuroendocrinology, thyroid, metabolism and obesity, and cardiovascular endocrinology. Results from animal models, human clinical observations, and epidemiological studies converge to implicate EDCs as a significant concern to public health. The mechanisms of EDCs involve divergent pathways including (but not limited to) estrogenic, antiandrogenic, thyroid, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ, retinoid, and actions through other nuclear receptors; steroidogenic enzymes; neurotransmitter receptors and systems; and many other pathways that are highly conserved in wildlife and humans, and which can be modeled in laboratory in vitro and in vivo models. Furthermore, EDCs represent a broad class of molecules such as organochlorinated pesticides and industrial chemicals, plastics and plasticizers, fuels, and many other chemicals that are present in the environment or are in widespread use. We make a number of recommendations to increase understanding of effects of EDCs, including enhancing increased basic and clinical research, invoking the precautionary principle, and advocating involvement of individual and scientific society stakeholders in communicating and implementing changes in public policy and awareness.

Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals: Brain–Behavior Effects on Thyroid and Sexual Differentiation

2020 ◽  
pp. 426-448
Author(s):  
R. Thomas Zoeller ◽  
Frederick S. vom Saal
Keyword(s):  
Thyroid Hormone ◽  
Human Brain ◽  
Brain Development ◽  
Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals ◽  
Convincing Evidence ◽  
Industrial Chemicals ◽  
Safety Testing ◽  
Endocrine Disrupting ◽  
Estrogenic Chemicals ◽  
And Gender

The human population is exposed to literally hundreds of industrial chemicals. Studies show that, on average, there are well over 100 industrial chemicals in cord blood samples taken from babies born in the United States. This observation may be disregarded if it were not for solid—and growing—evidence that many of these chemicals interfere with hormone systems that play important roles in human brain development. For example, thyroid hormone is known to be essential for normal brain development and the human brain is much more sensitive to thyroid hormone insufficiency than believed 50 years ago. Chemicals such as perchlorate, polychlorinated biphenyls, and polybrominated flame retardants are associated with cognitive deficits in humans, and the experimental literature reveals a complex interaction with the thyroid system that can account for these effects. Likewise, estrogenic chemicals like bisphenol A (BPA) can affect the development of many organ systems, including sexually dimorphic regions of the brain. There is now convincing evidence that even slight perturbations in hormonal systems caused by endocrine-disrupting chemicals can impact brain development, reducing cognitive function and gender-specific behaviors throughout the remainder of life. The consequences of such chronic exposures at low doses typical of human exposures had, until relatively recently, not been appreciated due to safety testing strategies that are designed to identify overt toxicities, not endocrine disruption and its consequences.

EDC's as Industrial Chemicals and Settler Colonial Structures

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Reena Shadaan ◽  
Michelle Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Development ◽  
Consumer Goods ◽  
Settler Colonialism ◽  
Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals ◽  
Oil Extraction ◽  
Regulatory Regime ◽  
Industrial Chemicals ◽  
Oil Refineries ◽  
Racial Capitalism ◽  
Endocrine Disrupting

Oil refineries and settler colonialism are not typically how feminist and environmental frameworks scope the problem of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). Instead, it is much more common to find EDCs described as a problem of packaging, plastics, and consumer goods, and to characterize their effects as a problem of bodily damage, and particularly as injuries or alterations to the reproductive and sexual development of individuals. This paper seeks to disrupt these individualized, molecularized, damage-centered and body-centered frames, and to strengthen decolonial feminist frameworks for understanding EDCs. We contend that our understanding of EDCs must expand to the structures of settler colonialism and racial capitalism that accompany oil extraction and refining, as well as to the distribution of emissions to airs, waters and lands. Building on the argument that pollution is colonialism, we hold that EDCs are materially a form of colonial environmental violence, disrupting land/body relations, and at the same time, are made possible by a permission-to-pollute regulatory regime.

Effect of Polyphosphate on Removal of Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals of Nonylphenol and Bisphenol-A by Activated Carbons

2005 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 484-490 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keun J. Choi ◽  
Sang G. Kim ◽  
Chang W. Kim ◽  
Seung H. Kim
Keyword(s):  
Activated Carbon ◽  
Bisphenol A ◽  
Surface Charge ◽  
Activated Carbons ◽  
Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals ◽  
Dipole Interaction ◽  
High Affinity ◽  
Calcium Polyphosphate ◽  
Endocrine Disrupting ◽  
Positively Charged

Abstract This study examined the effect of polyphosphate on removal of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) such as nonylphenol and bisphenol-A by activated carbons. It was found that polyphosphate aided in the removal of nonylphenol and bisphenol- A. Polyphosphate reacted with nonylphenol, likely through dipole-dipole interaction, which then improved the nonylphenol removal. Calcium interfered with this reaction by causing competition. It was found that polyphosphate could accumulate on carbon while treating a river. The accumulated polyphosphate then aided nonylphenol removal. The extent of accumulation was dependent on the type of carbon. The accumulation occurred more extensively with the wood-based used carbon than with the coal-based used carbon due to the surface charge of the carbon. The negatively charged wood-based carbon attracted the positively charged calcium-polyphosphate complex more strongly than the uncharged coal-based carbon. The polyphosphate-coated activated carbon was also effective in nonylphenol removal. The effect was different depending on the type of carbon. Polyphosphate readily attached onto the wood-based carbon due to its high affinity for polyphosphate. The attached polyphosphate then improved the nonylphenol removal. However, the coating failed to attach polyphosphate onto the coal-based carbon. The nonylphenol removal performance of the coal-based carbon remained unchanged after the polyphosphate coating.

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