Oestrogenic potencies of Zeranol, oestradiol, diethylstilboestrol, Bisphenol-A and genistein: implications for exposure assessment of potential endocrine disrupters

We have compared the oestrogenic potency of the synthetic oestrogen Zeranol, used as a growth promoter in meat production, and five related compounds, with the potency of 17beta-oestradiol, diethylstilboestrol (DES), genistein, and Bisphenol-A. The potency was assayed by analysing differences in expression levels of endogenous oestrogen-regulated genes in human MCF7 cells, treated with different concentrations of the compounds. Zeranol, 17beta-oestradiol and DES were about equally potent, genistein was four to six orders of magnitude less potent than 17beta-oestradiol but an order of magnitude more potent than Bisphenol-A. There were gene specific differences, the PS2 and TGFbeta3 genes were about equally sensitive to Zeranol, 17beta-oestradiol and DES whereas a down-regulation of MRG1/p35srj could be detected at fmol/l concentrations of Zeranol whereas 17beta-oestradiol was several orders of magnitude less potent. GST mu3 was sensitive to fmol/l concentrations of 17beta-oestradiol but much less sensitive to Zeranol and DES. The very high potency of Zeranol compared with other potential endocrine disrupters suggests that Zeranol intake from beef products could have greater impact on consumers than the amounts of the known or suspected endocrine disrupters that have been found in food. Since little data is available in man, there is an urgent need for reliable measurements of the concentration of Zeranol in human serum after ingestion of meat products from treated animals.

Assaying estrogenicity by quantitating the expression levels of endogenous estrogen-regulated genes

Scientific evidence suggests that humans and wildlife species may experience adverse health consequences from exposure to environmental chemicals that interact with the endocrine system. Reliable short-term assays are needed to identify hormone-disrupting chemicals. In this study we demonstrate that the estrogenic activity of a chemical can be evaluated by assaying induction or repression of endogenous estrogen-regulated "marker genes" in human breast cancer MCF-7 cells. We included four marker genes in the assay--pS2, transforming growth factor beta3 (TGFbeta3), monoamine oxidase A, and [alpha]1-antichymotrypsin--and we evaluated estrogenic activity for 17beta-estradiol (E(2)), diethylstilbestrol, [alpha]-zearalanol, nonylphenol, genistein, methoxychlor, endosulphan, o,p-DDE, bisphenol A, dibutylphthalate, 4-hydroxy tamoxifen, and ICI 182.780. All four marker genes responded strongly to the three high-potency estrogens (E(2), diethylstilbestrol, and [alpha]-zearalanol), whereas the potency of the other chemicals was 10(3)- to 10(6)-fold lower than that of E(2). There were some marker gene-dependent differences in the relative potencies of the tested chemicals. TGFbeta3 was equally sensitive to the three high-potency estrogens, whereas the sensitivity to [alpha]-zearalanol was approximately 10-fold lower than the sensitivity to E(2) and diethylstilbestrol when assayed with the other three marker genes. The potency of nonylphenol was equal to that of genistein when assayed with pS2 and TGFbeta3, but 10- to 100-fold higher/lower with monoamine oxidase A and [alpha]1-antichymotrypsin, respectively. The results are in agreement with results obtained by other methods and suggest that an assay based on endogenous gene expression may offer an attractive alternative to other E-SCREEN methods.