The Impact of Endocrine Disruptors on Endocrine Targets

The potential effect of the so-called endocrine disruptors (EDCs) or xenoestrogens on human health and the proven effect on wildlife have got considerable attention in the scientific community. Endocrine disruption represents one of the most controversial environmental issues despite the fact that many substances, both natural and artificial, have been recognized to interfere with endocrine signaling pathways. Such interactions have been documented both in laboratory animal studies as well as in vitro. However, in humans there is limited evidence of endocrine disruption caused by EDCs. EDCs are a large group of persistent organic pollutants (POPs), such as polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and dibenzofurans (PCDFs), poly-chlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and polybrominated ethers (PBDEs), chloronaphtalenes (PCNs), and bisphenol A (BPA), stable, lipophilic pollutants that affect fertility and cause serious reproductive problems. Xenoestrogens are synthetic compounds, but there are also numerous natural molecules in food that exhibit estrogen-mimetic activities. These natural molecules are mainly phytoestrogens isoflavones, and the most consumed are genistein and daidzein. Additionally, certain mushrooms or fungi can contain estrogen-like compounds called mycoestrogens. Xenoestrogens activities in oocyte, ovary, placenta, and mammary gland and in the consequent serious reproductive problems, including ototoxic action, lack of ovulation, premature ovarian failure (POF), or polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) are discussed in the review E. Gregoraszczuk and A. Ptak " Endocrine-disrupting chemicals: some actions of POPs on female reproduction. " G. Kerdivel et al., in their paper " Assessment and molecular actions of endocrine-disrupting chemicals that interfere with estrogen receptor pathways " discuss different molecular actions of some of the major xenoestrogens found in food or the environment and summarize the current models used to evaluate environmental estrogens. This paper is accompanied by clinical study of Caserta et al. " Correlation of endocrine disrupting chemicals serum levels and white blood cells gene expression of nuclear receptors in a population of infertile women " compares the internal exposure to bisphenol A (BPA), perfluorooctane sulphonate (PFOS), perfluorooc-tanoic acid (PFOA), monoethylhexyl phthalate (MEHP), and di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) in serum samples of 111 infertile women and 44 fertile women and analyses levels of gene expression of nuclear receptors (ERí µí»¼, ERí µí»½, AR, AhR, PXR, and PPARí µí»¾) as biomarkers of effective dose. Two of the papers deal with aspects of alkylphenols action as endocrine disruptors. The paper by B. Yi et al. " Association between endocrine disrupting phenols in colostrums and maternal and infant health " showed that most neonates who …