Black coffee mitigates diethyl phthalate disrupted folliculogenesis, reduced gonadotropins, and ovarian lesions in female albino mice

Phthalates are multifunctional compounds with extensive applications and emerging environmental pollutants. Due to their ubiquity in the environment and unavoidable exposure to humans, concerns have been voiced about public health dangers. This study was aimed to explore the diethyl phthalate (DEP) toxicity and the potential protective effect of black coffee in female Swiss albino mice. Four-week-old mice, weighing 12 ± 1 g were segregated into five groups (n = 10), designated as G-I (without any treatment), G-II (treated with corn oil), G-III (exposed to 1.5 mg/g body wt. (B.W.) DEP), G-IV (received 2 μg/g B.W coffee), and G-V (co-administrated with 1.5 mg/g DEP and 2 μg/g B.W coffee). Before dose administration, the coffee extract was assessed for its antioxidant potential through FRAP, TPC, and GC-MS analyses. Respective phthalates/coffee doses were administrated orally, once a day for 8 weeks consecutively starting from the prepubescent stage. After 56 days, mice were acclimated for 4 days then dissected. Morphological assessments showed an irregular shape of the ovaries in DEP-treated mice as compared to the control. The average bodyweight of DEP-intoxicated mice (p ≤ 0.05) increased notably against control, while DEP plus coffee group showed a regular gain in the average weight of mice. The gonado-somatic index showed non-significant variations among all groups. Micrometric studies showed that the diameter of secondary follicles (115 µm) in the ovaries of DEP-exposed mice (p ≤ 0.001) decreased significantly as compared to control (204 µm); conversely, follicular diameter in the coffee control group (248) increased significantly. Serum FSH and LH levels were significantly increased in DEP-exposed mice with a noteworthy decrease in estrogen level while hormonal levels of all other groups were comparable to control. Histological sections of DEP-exposed mice ovaries showed anatomical disruptions contrary to other groups, which were comparable with control. Antioxidant potential was checked in ovaries homogenates; FRAP values showed a notable decrease in DEP group in comparison with the control group, in contrast to G-V, when DEP was co-administrated with coffee. This study concluded that black coffee has protective effect, against DEP-instigated reproductive toxicity in Swiss albino female mice.

Surface blocking of azolla modified copper electrode for trace determination of phthalic acid esters as the molecular barricades by differential pulse voltammetry: response surface modelling optimized biosensor

In this work, a sensitive and efficient voltammetric biosensor was introduced for differential pulse voltammetric (DPV) determination of dibutyl phthalate, dimethyl phthalate, di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate and dicyclohexyl phthalate in aqueous solutions.

Alteration of sex hormone levels and steroidogenic pathway by several low molecular weight phthalates and their metabolites in male zebrafish (Danio rerio) and/or human adrenal cell (H295R) line

Low molecular weight phthalates, such as diethyl phthalate (DEP), benzyl butyl phthalate (BBzP), or diisobutyl phthalate (DiBP), are suspected to disrupt endocrine system. However, their adverse effects on sex steroid hormones and underlying mechanisms are not well-documented. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of major low molecular weight phthalates (LMWPs), i.e., DEP, BBzP, and DiBP, and their hydrolytic metabolites, on sex steroid hormone system, employing male zebrafish and/or a human adrenocortical carcinoma (H295R) cell. In male zebrafish, 14-day exposure to DEP, BBzP, or DiBP significantly decreased testosterone (T) concentrations. All test compounds significantly up-regulated cyp19a gene expression, and down-regulated star and 3β hsd genes in the male fish. In H295R cell, all test compounds except monoisobutyl phthalate (MiBP) reduced T concentrations and increased E2/T ratio. Gene expression changes in H295R cell, e.g., significant down-regulation of StAR gene and up-regulation of CYP19A gene, supported depressed synthesis of sex hormones in the adrenal cell. Our results show that not only DEP, BBzP, and DiBP, but also their hydrolytic metabolites disrupt sex hormone balances through modulating key steroidogenic genes in the human adrenal cells and in zebrafish.

The effects of phthalates in the cardiovascular and reproductive systems: A review

Every year millions of tons of plastic are produced around the world and humans are increasingly exposed to them. This constant exposure to plastics has raised some concerns against human health, particularly when it comes to phthalates. These compounds have endocrine-disrupting properties, as they have the ability to bind molecular targets in the body and interfere with hormonal function and quantity. The main use of phthalates is to give flexibility to polyvinyl chloride (PVC) polymers. Phthalates are found in a variety of industrial and consumer products, and as they are not covalently bound to the plastic, phthalates contaminate the environment from which human exposure occurs. Studies in human and animal populations suggest a correlation between phthalate exposure and adverse health outcomes, particularly at the reproductive and cardiovascular systems, however there is much less information about the phthalate toxicity of the later. Thus, the main purpose of this review is to present the studies relating the effects already stated of phthalates on the cardiovascular and reproductive systems, and also present the link between these two systems.

Synthesis of PtPb hollow nanoparticles and their application in an electrochemical immunosensor as signal tags for detection of dimethyl phthalate

Platinum–lead (PtPb) hollow nanoparticles were used as signal tags for the first time to fabricate an electrochemical immunosensor. This was the first example of an electrochemical immunosensor used to detect dimethyl phthalate (DMP).

Reproductive and developmental effects of phthalate diesters in females

Phthalate diesters, widely used in flexible plastics and consumer products, have become prevalent contaminants in the environment. Human exposure is ubiquitous and higher phthalate metabolite concentrations documented in patients using medications with phthalate-containing slow release capsules raises concerns for potential health effects. Furthermore, animal studies suggest that phthalate exposure can modulate circulating hormone concentrations and thus may be able to adversely affect reproductive physiology and the development of estrogen sensitive target tissues. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review of the epidemiological and experimental animal literature examining the relationship between phthalate exposure and adverse female reproductive health outcomes. The epidemiological literature is sparse for most outcomes studied and plagued by small sample size, methodological weaknesses, and thus fails to support a conclusion of an adverse effect of phthalate exposure. Despite a paucity of experimental animal studies for several phthalates, we conclude that there is sufficient evidence to suggest that phthalates are reproductive toxicants. However, we note that the concentrations needed to induce adverse health effects are high compared to the concentrations measured in contemporary human biomonitoring studies. We propose that the current patchwork of studies, potential for additive effects and evidence of adverse effects of phthalate exposure in subsequent generations and at lower concentrations than in the parental generation support the need for further study.

Joint neurodevelopmental and behavioral effects of nonylphenol and estradiol on F1 male rats

The purpose of present study is to examine whether gestational exposure of two major environmental endocrine-disrupting chemicals, nonylphenol (NP) and estradiol (E2), would affect nervous system development of offspring rats and explore the joint effects of NP and E2. After impregnation, dams were assigned to seven groups. The first and second groups received gavage with NP at dose levels of 50 mg/kg/day (NP-L) and 100 mg/kg/day (NP-H); the third and fourth groups were gavaged with E2 at dose levels of 10 μg/kg/day (E2-L) and 20 μg/kg/day (E2-H); the fifth and sixth groups were gavaged with joint NP and E2 [NP 50 mg/kg/day + E2 10 μg/kg/day (NP-E2-L) and NP 100 mg/kg/day+E2 20 μg/kg/day (NP-E2-H)] dissolved in groundnut oil; and the seventh group was orally administered with groundnut oil alone (vehicle control; 2 ml/kg/day), respectively, daily from gestational days 9 to 15 (transplacental exposures). Compared to the control, exclusive NP and E2 treatment groups, joint exposure to NP-E2-L and NP-E2-H has both produced a significant decrease in mean litter size and number of live pups per litter in dams; Offspring rats spent more time to perform cliff-drop aversion reflex, surface righting reflex, air righting reflex, auditory startle, and visual placing; In Morris water maze task, an increased escape latency was presented in offspring rats; In step-down avoidance test, offspring rats jointly exposed to NP and E2 spent more reaction time. Decrease in acetylcholinesterase activity and increase in choline acetyltransferase activity were observed in the hippocampus of offspring rats. Gestational joint exposure to NP and E2 might induce nervous development impairment of offspring rats. Moreover, additive toxic effects of NP and E2 on nervous development have been identified among offspring rats as well.

Molecular dissection of atrazine-responsive transcriptome and gene networks in rice by high-throughput sequencing

The residue of atrazine (a herbicide) has become hazards in environments due to its intensive use. However, its molecular toxicity to on plants and human beings is not fully understood. In this study, we performed high-throughput sequencing of atrazine-exposed rice (Oryza sativa) to analyze global expression and complexity of genes in the crop. Four libraries were constructed from shoots and roots with or without atrazine exposure. We sequenced 5,751,861, 5,790,013, 5,375,999 and 6,039,618 clean tags that corresponded to 220,806, 111,301, 248,802 and 114,338 distinct tags for Root-Atr (root control, atrazine-free), Shoot-Atr (shoot control, atrazine-free), Root+Atr (root treated with atrazine) and Shoot+Atr (shoot treated with atrazine) libraries, respectively. Mapping the clean tags to gene databases generated 18,833-21,007 annotated genes for each library. Most of annotated genes were differentially expressed among the libraries. The most 40 differentially expressed genes were associated with resistance to environmental stress, degradation of xenobiotics and molecular metabolism. Validation of gene expression by quantitative RT-PCR confirmed the deep-sequencing results. The transcriptome sequences were further subjected to Gene Orthology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis and showed modified biological functions and metabolic pathways. Our results not only highlight the transcriptional complexity in rice with atrazine but also represent a major improvement for analyzing transcriptional changes on a large scale in xenobiotics-responsive toxicology.