Abstract
The aim of this work was to evaluate the activity of xenobiotic mixtures containing persistent organic pollutants isolated from commercial fish oil samples against sex hormone receptors, including estrogen and androgen. The applied bioassay was based on transgenic yeast strains. The mixtures were extracted from the samples using the semi-permeable membrane dialysis technique and analyzed with gas chromatography/ion trap mass spectrometry. It turned out that mixtures of chemicals isolated from fish oil may interact with human steroid sex hormone receptors in various ways: the tested samples showed both estrogenic and anti-androgenic activity. Calculated 17β-estradiol equivalents for the tested samples ranged between 0.003 and 0.073 pg g–1 (fat). Anti-androgenic activity expressed as the flutamide equivalent concentration was in the 18.58–216.21 ng g–1 (fat) range. Polychlorinated biphenyls and various DDT metabolites were the main fish oil pollutants influencing the receptors. Additivity and/or synergy between chemicals was observed in the ER/AR mediated response.
Highlights
Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are compounds that may interfere with human or wildlife endocrine systems and produce adverse developmental, reproductive, neurological and immune effects
The Principal Component Analysis technique was used to compare profiles of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) congeners found in the tested samples with the composition of some technical mixtures containing those compounds
The results of this study confirm that residues of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) present in fish oil may disrupt the human endocrine system by means of agonistic and antagonistic effects on human estrogen and androgen receptors
Summary
Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are compounds that may interfere with human or wildlife endocrine systems and produce adverse developmental, reproductive, neurological and immune effects. A vast number of chemical compounds are known to mimic native human hormones like androgen (AR) and estrogen (ER) and to interact with their nuclear receptors (NRs) [1,2,3]. EDCs are able to interact with hormone NRs as agonists or antagonists [4]. They are able to activate the receptors in the absence of native hormones and to increase or inhibit the response of endogenous ligands [5]. Some chemicals act indirectly, showing endocrine disrupting
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