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Scope of the Problem
Published in Jason W. Birkett, John N. Lester, Endocrine Disrupters in Wastewater and Sludge Treatment Processes, 2002
These compounds generally consist of benzene rings that are fused together (Figure 1.8). PAHs also have the potential to bioaccumulate and have log Kow values in the region of 6, indicating a high degree of lipophilicity. Hence, partitioning to solid phases will predominate. Due to the structural similarity of PAHs and steroids, it was hypothesized in the 1960s that these compounds would be able to act upon steroid hormone receptor sites.132 Moreover, these compounds have since been found to exhibit either weakly estrogenic or antiestrogenic (antagonistic) responses in in vivo and in vitro assays.88,133–135 Heterocyclic PAHs, which contain an O, S, or N atom in one of the rings, have also been reported to possess estrogenicity.136 The hydroxylated metabolites of PAHs, specifically benzo[a]pyrene, are considered to produce the estrogenic activity observed for this compound.137 Both laboratory and field studies in the aquatic environment have revealed that PAH exposure affects steroid levels, gonadal development, fertilization, and hatching success.138 Santodonato88 has produced a comprehensive review concerning the estrogenic activity of PAHs. Structures of polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).
Imperial Chemical Industries and Craig Jordan, “the First Tamoxifen Consultant,” 1960s–1990s
Published in Ambix, 2020
In return, the trials provided clinical material for laboratory studies of tamoxifen. By then, the oestrogen receptor had been isolated and identified by Jack Gorski in the US, in what has been described as the “first molecular characterisation of a steroid hormone receptor.”25 Consequently, Walpole and his team were able to devise a receptor protein-binding assay method, which showed tamoxifen to be a competitive inhibitor of oestrogen in certain species and organs.26 These results suggested that, like other anti-oestrogens, tamoxifen had a kind of agonist/antagonist pharmacological action with which ICI researchers had become familiar in their work on the beta-blockers.27 It helped to cast further light on the physiological processes at a molecular level, and made tamoxifen a particularly useful research tool for investigations of hormone-dependent tumours.28
Impact of occupational cadmium exposure on bone in sewage workers
Published in International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health, 2018
Mona M Taha, Heba Mahdy-Abdallah, Eman M Shahy, Khadiga S Ibrahim, Safaa Elserougy
Accumulating evidence suggested that estrogen seems to play a major role in male bone metabolism [16]. Estrogen effect was mediated by estrogen receptor (estrogen receptor alpha [ER-α]), which represents a member of steroid hormone receptor family. It functions as an important part of the hormone–receptor complex that promotes specific target genes expression [17]. Genetic alterations in multiple genes can account for this genetic component and ER-α gene represents one of the various potential candidates. Kim et al. [17] recorded that ER-α gene polymorphism is associated with osteoporosis development in Korean vegetarian men. Polymorphism of the ER-α gene found on intron 1 may affect gene expression and/or interindividual susceptibility in the estrogen hormone through its regulatory action in mRNA transcription. Other possibility was due to that this polymorphism might be associated with unidentified polymorphisms that is responsible for the quality or function of the protein encoded by the ER-α gene [18].