Research in the Group for Reproductive, Endocrine and Environmental Toxicology (GREEN Tox)

Humans and animal populations are increasingly exposed to chemicals in the environment throughout their lifetime, during reproduction and ontogeny. GREEN Tox (Group for Reproductive, Endocrine and Environmental Toxicology) conducts research at different levels: (1) longterm toxicity of environmental chemicals (including cosmetics and flame retardants) with focus on endocrine effects, the developing organism, brain and reproduction, (2) analysis of internal exposure to environmental chemicals in human populations, and (3) development of new refined test methods for the characterization of endocrine activity and developmental toxicity of chemicals. Rational actions require reliable information. We are therefore working along two lines: conducting research and providing information to the scientific community and to the public.

Research Projects on Endocrine Active Chemicals (Endocrine Disrupters)

Endocrine active environmental chemicals
During the past decade, researchers realized that chemicals out of different classes, derived from human sources (pesticides, industrial chemicals, drugs) or plants (phytoestrogens), are capable to activate or block hormone receptors, in particular estrogen or androgen receptors. Chemicals may further interfere with synthesis, transport or breakdown of hormones. Such chemicals may affect hormone-regulated developmental processes in peripheral organs (reproductive tract) and in central nervous system (e.g., sexually dimorphic neuron groups), which may result in alterations of sexual behavior or other types of behavior. Chemical-induced developmental alterations have been observed in wildlife, and more recently, effects on humans have been demonstrated in selected cases. Risk assessment of endocrine active chemicals requires identification and characterization of endocrine activity, assessment of toxicity in particular with respect to long-term effects, and analysis of exposure levels in environmental samples and biosphere, including humans.

1. New Research Project:
Contaminant mixtures and human reproductive health - novel strategies for health impact and risk assessment of endocrine disrupters (CONTAMED) (see Links)
GREEN Tox participates in the collaborative research project "CONTAMED" funded by the EU 7th Framework Progamme (FP7). This project addresses a major unsolved problem posed by endocrine active chemicals (endocrine disrupting chemicals, EDCs): Humans and animals are exposed to mixtures of EDCs. So far, risk assessment for registration of chemicals is based on studies conducted with single chemicals. In order to be able to assess the real health risks of EDCs, procedures for the evaluation of the combined risk of mixtures of EDCs need to be developed. CONTAMED aims to explore the hypothesis that exposure to EDC mixtures in fetal life may lead to adverse delayed impacts on human reproductive health. To achieve this goal, CONTAMED will combine epidemiological approaches with laboratory science. The work plan for CONTAMED is organised in three major strands focusing on human studies (assessment of exposure to EDCs), animal models (effects of EDC mixtures on reproduction and development of rats, with EDC mixtures designed on the basis of human exposure studies), and in vitro assays including metabolomics. Our laboratory will be involved in the chemical analysis of human exposure and in molecular biological analysis of target tissues from laboratory animals.

2. Endocrine active UV filters: Developmental toxicity and human exposure
Many chemicals in cosmetics are high production volume chemicals. Their dual role as compounds administered to humans and as chemicals released into the environment and entering the food chain has long been neglected. We follow a triple strategy, identification of endocrine activity of individual chemicals, investigation of longterm effects with emphasis on reproduction and ontogeny as particularly sensitive life-stages, and analysis of internal human exposure (for review, see Schlumpf et al., 2008).

After the identification of a number of UV filters as estrogenic or androgenic in vitro and in in vivo (Schlumpf et al., 2001, Ma et al., 2003) and the characterization of two of them, 4-methylbenzylidene camphor (4-MBC) and 3-benzylidene camphor (3-BC) as preferential estrogen receptor (ER) beta ligands (Schlumpf et al., 2004), we studied developmental toxicity of 4-MBC and 3-BC in a transgeneration rat model. Pre- and postnatal exposure to 4-MBC was found, i.a., to increase prostate size in neonatal rats (Hofkamp et al., 2008), delay male puberty (Durrer et al., 2007), and affect reproductive organ weights and estrogen target gene expression in adult offspring of both sexes (Durrer et al., 2005, 2007). 3-BC also influenced male puberty, reproductive organ development and gene expression with partly different effect patterns (Schlumpf et al., 2008). Both, 4-MBC and 3-BC impaired female sexual behavior in pre- and postnatally exposed offspring (Faass et al., online in press), and gene expression in sexually dimorphic brain regions (Maerkel et al., 2005, 2007). Additional investigations on tissues from early postnatal rat offspring are presently under way.

In order to provide a basis for risk assessment, we further analyzed a number of UV filters, including 4-MBC and 3-BC, in human milk in three cohorts examined in 2004, 2005, and 2006. The chemical analyses were combined with a questionnaire on the use of a broad range of cosmetics. UV filters were present in over 75% of human milk samples, and a similar percentage of women reported use of one or more cosmetic products containing UV filters. The findings on UV filters in the first two cohorts have been reported by Schlumpf et al., (2008). In a final report on all three cohorts, UV filter levels will be compared to levels of other classes of chemical contaminants analyzed in the same milk samples. This is the first study providing realistic information on internal human exposure to cosmetic UV filters on a population basis (funded by Swiss National Research Programme (NRP) 50, 5th EU Framework Programme (EURISKED/CREDO Cluster), Swiss Environmental Protection Agency (BAFU), Hartmann-Müller Stiftung, Olga Mayenfisch Stiftung).

3. Endocrine active flame retardants: Developmental toxicity of PBDE 99
Polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDE) have received increasing attention during recent years because their level was found to increase at an alarming rate in human and animal tissues, and because some congeners exhibited developmental neurotoxicity and estrogenic activity in vitro. We investigated developmental toxicity of the pentabrominated flame retardant PBDE 99 (meanwhile banned in the EU) in a rat model and observed effects on male puberty, male and female reproductive organs, brain and female sexual behavior at organ level and gene expression level (see Lichtensteiger et al., 2004, Ceccatelli et al., 2006). This project has been completed (funded by PBDE-NTOX, EU 5th Framework Programme).