Thematic Issue: Endocrine-disrupting Chemicals 2021
May 2021
Read our special collection of journal articles, published in 2020-2021, focused on Endocrine-disrupting Chemicals (EDCs)! Curation of the collection was guided by Altmetric Attention Scores and Featured Article designations.
In Endocrine Reviews, Padmanabhan and coauthors provide a wide-ranging review of the potential of EDCs to harm health, with an emphasis on adverse pregnancy outcomes: they conclude that “evidence to date points to EDCs directly and indirectly affecting the maternal, placental, and fetal milieu and engaging many intermediaries that can be targeted for intervention and exposure mitigation.” Bhargava et al. contribute an Endocrine Society Scientific Statement on Considering Sex as a Biological Variable in Basic and Clinical Studies: they note the existence of a period of sensitivity to androgens in female primates and rodents that can be an important research tool for assessing the potential impact of EDCs and other agents on brain development.
In Endocrinology, Al-Yasari et al. demonstrate disrupted glucose metabolism in adult offspring of female mice fed alcohol before conception. Although not usually considered alongside EDCs active at much lower concentrations, alcohol disrupts a variety of endocrine systems, and may cause inheritance of increased susceptibility to diabetes. Vom Saal and Vandenberg review 20 years of studies providing “overwhelming evidence of harm” to endocrine systems caused by the common EDC bisphenol A even at low doses, a conclusion that the Food and Drug Administration has refused to acknowledge. Mogus and coauthors provide experimental evidence that propylparaben, used in foods and personal care products, interferes with mammary gland development and gene expression in mice at levels relevant to human exposure. And Wang et al. demonstrate that bisphenol A induces behavioral changes, including increased anxiety, in adult male and female mice exposed in utero.
Writing in Journal of the Endocrine Society, Demeneix and coauthors criticize a published commentary on EDC regulation that favored a threshold-based approach, an approach rejected as scientifically inappropriate by a strong consensus of Endocrine Society members. Hernandez Scudder and colleagues describe research showing that, in rats, prenatal exposure to human-relevant concentrations of the EDC vinclozin and polychlorinated biphenyls, also EDCs, changed gene expression in the brains of the mature animals and impaired their sociosexual preferences.
JCEM has several papers that brought attention to possible harms resulting from EDCs. Jacobson et al. find a significant association between serum concentrations of phthalate metabolites in pregnant women and hormone levels and post-partum depression, worrying in light of the widespread environmental distribution of phthalates. And Ding and colleagues find an association between exposure to perfluoroalkyl substances, which are also widespread EDCs, and early menopause, a risk factor for adverse health outcomes in later life. Lastly, Genco, Anderson-Shaw, and Sargis argue that healthcare is responsible for many EDC exposures through medications and devices; they propose the adoption of communication strategies that would inform patients of the risks.
Endocrine Reviews
Praegnatio Perturbatio—Impact of Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals
The burden of adverse pregnancy outcomes such as preterm birth and low birth weight is considerable across the world. Several risk factors for adverse pregnancy outcomes have been identified. One risk factor for adverse pregnancy outcomes receiving considerable attention in recent years is gestational exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals.
Considering Sex as a Biological Variable in Basic and Clinical Studies: An Endocrine Society Scientific Statement
In May 2014, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) stated its intent to “require applicants to consider sex as a biological variable (SABV) in the design and analysis of NIH-funded research involving animals and cells.”
Endocrinology
Preconception Alcohol Exposure Increases the Susceptibility to Diabetes in the Offspring
We used an animal model of preconception alcohol exposure in which adult female rats were given free access to 6.7% alcohol in a liquid diet and water for about 4 weeks, went without alcohol for 3 weeks, and then were bred to generate male and female offspring.
Update on the Health Effects of Bisphenol A: Overwhelming Evidence of Harm
In 1997, the first in vivo bisphenol A (BPA) study by endocrinologists reported that feeding BPA to pregnant mice induced adverse reproductive effects in male offspring at the low dose of 2 µg/kg/day. Since then, thousands of studies have reported adverse effects in animals administered low doses of BPA.
Exposure to Propylparaben During Pregnancy and Lactation Induces Long-Term Alterations to the Mammary Gland in Mice
The mammary gland is a hormone sensitive organ that is susceptible to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) during the vulnerable periods of parous reorganization (ie, pregnancy, lactation, and involution).
Fetal Bisphenol-A Induced Changes in Murine Behavior and Brain Gene Expression Persisted in Adult-aged Offspring
In utero Bisphenol A (BPA) exposure has been linked to many deficits during brain development, including sexual differentiation, behavior, and motor coordination. Yet, how BPA induces these disorders and whether its effects are long lasting are largely unknown.
Journal of the Endocrine Society
Thresholds and Endocrine Disruptors: An Endocrine Society Policy Perspective
The concept of a threshold of adversity in toxicology is neither provable nor disprovable. As such, it is not a scientific question but a theoretical one. Yet, the belief in thresholds has led to traditional ways of interpreting data derived from regulatory guideline studies of the toxicity of chemicals.
EDCs Reorganize Brain-Behavior Phenotypic Relationships in Rats
Previous experiments have shown behavioral deficits caused by EDCs that have implications for social competence and sexual selection. The neuromolecular mechanisms for these behavioral changes induced by EDCs have not been thoroughly explored.
The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism
Prenatal exposure to bisphenols and phthalates and postpartum depression: The role of neurosteroid hormone disruption
Postpartum depression (PPD) is a serious psychiatric disorder. While causes remain poorly understood, perinatal sex hormone fluctuations are an important factor, and allopregnanolone in particular has emerged as a key determinant.
Associations of Perfluoroalkyl Substances with Incident Natural Menopause: The Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation
Previous epidemiologic studies of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) and menopausal timing conducted in cross-sectional settings were limited by reverse causation because PFAS serum concentrations increase after menopause.
Unwitting Accomplices: Endocrine Disruptors Confounding Clinical Care
Burgeoning evidence over the last 25 years has identified myriad synthetic chemicals with the capacity to alter various aspects of hormone synthesis and action. These endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) have been linked to various diseases, including reproductive disorders, metabolic diseases, and developmental abnormalities, among others.
