Print PageThe concern about the impacts of endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) in the environment has increased recently with their high occurrence in surface waters and sex changes in various aquatic organisms. EDC’s include ubiquitously used pharmaceuticals and personal care products, such as soap, detergents, contraceptives, and other medicines, which are constantly released into the environment, in waste water treatment plant effluent. Though toxicological effects of these individual, EDC’s have been studied, knowledge on how these chemicals interact together in the environment is very limited. The objective of this project is to study the multi-residue effect of EDCs using a chemi-luminescent yeast assay with Saccharomyces cerevisiae, where there is an expected increase in estrogenicity. The dose response curve for 17β-Estradiol (E2, a natural hormone), and varying concentrations of the Bisphenol A (BPA, a monomer used in many chemical products) effective concentration at 50% (EC50) were tested simultaneously.
Results/Conclusions
Results indicate antagonistic effects in estrogenicity with multiple combinations of E2 and BPA. The EC50 for all the experimental teatments was found to be more estrogenic than the individual BPA EC50. These results lessen the gap on knowledge about EDC interactions in surface waters, and provide new information for future toxicological data on aquatic environmental health.
