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Estrogenicity of chemical mixtures revealed by a panel of bioassays.

ABSTRACT: Estrogenic compounds are widely released to surface waters and may cause adverse effects to sensitive aquatic species. Three hormones, estrone, 17β-estradiol and 17α-ethinylestradiol, are of particular concern as they are bioactive at very low concentrations. Current analytical methods are not all sensitive enough for monitoring these substances in water and do not cover mixture effects. Bioassays could complement chemical analysis since they detect the overall effect of complex mixtures. Here, four chemical mixtures and two hormone mixtures were prepared and tested as reference materials together with two environmental water samples by eight laboratories employing nine in vitro and in vivo bioassays covering different steps involved in the estrogenic response. The reference materials included priority substances under the European Water Framework Directive, hormones and other emerging pollutants. Each substance in the mixture was present at its proposed safety limit concentration (EQS) in the European legislation. The in vitro bioassays detected the estrogenic effect of chemical mixtures even when 17β-estradiol was not present but differences in responsiveness were observed. LiBERA was the most responsive, followed by LYES. The additive effect of the hormones was captured by ERα-CALUX, MELN, LYES and LiBERA. Particularly, all in vitro bioassays detected the estrogenic effects in environmental water samples (EEQ values in the range of 0.75-304 × EQS), although the concentrations of hormones were below the limit of quantification in analytical measurements. The present study confirms the applicability of reference materials for estrogenic effects' detection through bioassays and indicates possible methodological drawbacks of some of them that may lead to false negative/positive outcomes. The observed difference in responsiveness among bioassays - based on mixture composition - is probably due to biological differences between them, suggesting that panels of bioassays with different characteristics should be applied according to specific environmental pollution conditions.

SUBMITTER: Gomez L

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8210648 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Estrogenicity of chemical mixtures revealed by a panel of bioassays.

Gómez Livia L Niegowska Magdalena M Navarro Anna A Amendola Luca L Arukwe Augustine A Ait-Aissa Selim S Balzamo Stefania S Barreca Salvatore S Belkin Shimshon S Bittner Michal M Blaha Ludek L Buchinger Sebastian S Busetto Maddalena M Carere Mario M Colzani Luisa L Dellavedova Pierluisa P Denslow Nancy N Escher Beate I BI Hogstrand Christer C Khan Essa Ahsan EA König Maria M Kroll Kevin J KJ Lacchetti Ines I Maillot-Marechal Emmanuelle E Moscovici Liat L Potalivo Monica M Sanseverino Isabella I Santos Ricardo R Schifferli Andrea A Schlichting Rita R Sforzini Susanna S Simon Eszter E Shpigel Etai E Sturzenbaum Stephen S Vermeirssen Etienne E Viarengo Aldo A Werner Inge I Lettieri Teresa T

The Science of the total environment 20210427

Estrogenic compounds are widely released to surface waters and may cause adverse effects to sensitive aquatic species. Three hormones, estrone, 17β-estradiol and 17α-ethinylestradiol, are of particular concern as they are bioactive at very low concentrations. Current analytical methods are not all sensitive enough for monitoring these substances in water and do not cover mixture effects. Bioassays could complement chemical analysis since they detect the overall effect of complex mixtures. Here, ...[more]

PMID: 33957588

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Estrogenicity of chemical mixtures revealed by a panel of bioassays.

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Estrogenicity of chemical mixtures revealed by a panel of bioassays.

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