Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.04.060
Document accepted manuscript
Title (Primary) Combined effects of environmental xeno-estrogens within multi-component mixtures: Comparison of in vitro human- and zebrafish-based estrogenicity bioassays
Author Serra, H.; Scholze, M.; Altenburger, R.; Busch, W. ORCID logo ; Budzinski, H.; Brion, F.; Aït-Aïssa, S.
Source Titel Chemosphere
Year 2019
Department BIOTOX
Volume 227
Page From 334
Page To 344
Language englisch
Keywords Estrogenicity; Anti-estrogen; Mixture; In vitro reporter gene; Human; Zebrafish
Abstract Some recent studies showed that in vitro bioassays based on fish or human estrogen receptor (ER) activation may have distinct responses to environmental samples, highlighting the need to better understand bioassay-specific ER response to environmental mixtures. For this purpose, we investigated a 12-compound mixture in two mixture ratios (M1 and M2) on zebrafish (zf) liver cells stably expressing zfERα (ZELHα cells) or zfERβ2 (ZELHβ2 cells) and on human ER-reporter gene (MELN) cells. The mixture included the well-known ER ligands bisphenol A (BPA) and genistein (GEN), and other compounds representatives of a freshwater background contamination. In this context, the study aimed at assessing the robustness of concentration addition (CA) model and the potential confounding influence of other chemicals by testing subgroups of ER activators, ER inhibitors or ER activators and inhibitors combined. Individual chemical testing showed a higher prevalence of ER inhibitors in zebrafish than human cells (e.g. propiconazole), and some chemicals inhibited zfER but activated hER response (e.g. benzo(a)pyrene, triphenylphosphate). The estrogenic activity of M1 and M2 was well predicted by CA in MELN cells, whereas it was significantly lower than predicted in ZELHβ2 cells, contrasting with the additive effects observed for BPA and GEN binary mixtures. When testing the subgroups of ER activators and inhibitors combined, the deviation from additivity in ZELHβ2 cells was caused by zebrafish-specific inhibiting chemicals. This study provides novel information on the ability of environmental pollutants to interfere with zfER signalling and shows that non-estrogenic chemicals can influence the response to a mixture of xeno-estrogens in a bioassay-specific manner.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=21813
Serra, H., Scholze, M., Altenburger, R., Busch, W., Budzinski, H., Brion, F., Aït-Aïssa, S. (2019):
Combined effects of environmental xeno-estrogens within multi-component mixtures: Comparison of in vitro human- and zebrafish-based estrogenicity bioassays
Chemosphere 227 , 334 - 344 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.04.060