In studies to determine whether Saccharomyces cerevisiae produced estrogens, the organism was grown in culture media prepared using distilled water autoclaved in polycarbonate flasks. The yeast-conditioned media showed the presence of a substance that competed with [3H]estradiol for binding to estrogen receptors (ER) from rat uterus. However, it soon became clear that the estrogenic substance in the conditioned media was not a product of the yeast grown in culture, but was leached out of the polycarbonate flasks during the autoclaving procedure. [3H]Estradiol displacement activity was monitored by ER RRA, and the active substance was purified from autoclaved medium using a series of HPLC steps. The final purified product was identified as bisphenol-A (BPA) by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. BPA could also be identified in distilled water autoclaved in polycarbonate flasks without the requirement of either the organism or the constituents of the culture medium. Authentic BPA was active in competitive RRAs, demonstrating an affinity approximately 1:2000 that of estradiol for ER. In functional assays, BPA (10-25 nM) induced progesterone receptors in cultured human mammary cancer cells (MCF-7) at a potency of approximately 1:5000 compared to that of estradiol. The BPA effect on PR induction was blocked by tamoxifen. In addition, BPA (25 nM) increased the rate of proliferation of MCF-7 cells assessed by [3H]thymidine incorporation. Thus, BPA exhibited estrogenic activity by both RRA and two functional bioresponse assays. Finally, MCF-7 cells grown in media prepared with water autoclaved in polycarbonate exhibited higher progesterone receptor levels than cells.grown in media prepared with water autoclaved in glass, suggesting an estrogenic effect of the water autoclaved in polycarbonate. Our findings raise the possibility that unsuspected estrogenic activity in the form of BPA may have an impact on experiments employing media autoclaved in polycarbonate flasks. It remains to be determined whether BPA derived from consumer products manufactured from polycarbonate could significantly contribute to the pool of estrogenic substances in the environment.

Bisphenol-A: an estrogenic substance is released from polycarbonate flasks during autoclaving

Alkylphenols are widely used as plastic additives and surfactants. We report the identification of an alkylphenol, nonylphenol, as an estrogenic substance released from plastic centrifuge tubes. Th...

p-Nonyl-phenol: an estrogenic xenobiotic released from "modified" polystyrene.

https://www.cell.com/cell/pdf/0092-8674(87)90193-0.pdf

Evidence that transforming growth factor-β is a hormonally regulated negative growth factor in human breast cancer cells

The mechanism by which estradiol acts on cell multiplication is still unclear. Under conditions of estradiol-dependent growth, estradiol treatment of human mammary cancer MCF-7 cells triggers rapid and transient activation of the mitogen-activated (MAP) kinases, erk-1 and erk-2, increases the active form of p21ras, tyrosine phosphorylation of Shc and p190 protein and induces association of p190 to p21ras-GAP. Both Shc and p190 are substrates of activated src and once phosphorylated, they interact with other proteins and upregulate p21ras. Estradiol activates the tyrosine kinase/p21ras/MAP-kinase pathway in MCF-7 cells with kinetics which are similar to those of peptide mitogens. It is only after introduction of the human wild-type 67 kDa estradiol receptor cDNA that Cos cells become estradiol-responsive in terms of erk-2 activity. This finding, together with the inhibition by the pure anti-estrogen ICI 182 780 of the stimulatory effect of estradiol on each step of the pathway in MCF-7 cells proves that the classic estradiol receptor is responsible for the transduction pathway activation. Transfection experiments of Cos cells with the estradiol receptor cDNA and in vitro experiments with c-src show that the estradiol receptor activates c-src and this activation requires occupancy of the receptor by hormone. Our experiments suggest that c-src is an initial and integral part of the signaling events mediated by the estradiol receptor.

https://www.embopress.org/doi/epdf/10.1002/j.1460-2075.1996.tb00471.x

Tyrosine kinase/p21ras/MAP-kinase pathway activation by estradiol-receptor complex in MCF-7 cells.

Information concerning the fundamental mechanisms of action of both natural and environmental hormones, combined with information concerning endogenous hormone concentrations, reveals how endocrine-disrupting chemicals with estrogenic activity (EEDCs) can be active at concentrations far below those currently being tested in toxicological studies. Using only very high doses in toxicological studies of EEDCs thus can dramatically underestimate bioactivity. Specifically: a) The hormonal action mechanisms and the physiology of delivery of EEDCs predict with accuracy the low-dose ranges of biological activity, which have been missed by traditional toxicological testing. b) Toxicology assumes that it is valid to extrapolate linearly from high doses over a very wide dose range to predict responses at doses within the physiological range of receptor occupancy for an EEDC; however, because receptor-mediated responses saturate, this assumption is invalid. c) Furthermore, receptor-mediated responses can first increase and then decrease as dose increases, contradicting the assumption that dose-response relationships are monotonic. d) Exogenous estrogens modulate a system that is physiologically active and thus is already above threshold, contradicting the traditional toxicological assumption of thresholds for endocrine responses to EEDCs. These four fundamental issues are problematic for risk assessment methods used by regulatory agencies, because they challenge the traditional use of extrapolation from high-dose testing to predict responses at the much lower environmentally relevant doses. These doses are within the range of current exposures to numerous chemicals in wildlife and humans. These problems are exacerbated by the fact that the type of positive and negative controls appropriate to the study of endocrine responses are not part of traditional toxicological testing and are frequently omitted, or when present, have been misinterpreted.

Large Effects from Small Exposures. I. Mechanisms for Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals with Estrogenic Activity

Although much attention has been paid to the removal of hormones from sera and to the development of serum-free media for studies on hormone-responsive cells in culture, little consideration has been given to the possibility that the media components themselves may have hormonal activity. We have found that phenol red, which bears a structural resemblance to some nonsteroidal estrogens and which is used ubiquitously as a pH indicator in tissue culture media, has significant estrogenic activity at the concentrations (1545 ,M) at which it is found In tissue culture media. Phenol red binds to the estrogen receptor of MCF-7 human breast cancer cells with an affinity 0.001% that of estradiol (Kd = 2 x 1O-5 M). It stimulates the proliferation of estrogen receptor-positive MCF-7 breast cancer cells in a dose-dependent manner but has no effect on the growth of estrogen receptor-negative MDA- MB-231 breast cancer cells. At the concentrations present In tissue culture media, phenol red causes partial estrogenic stimulation, increasing cell number to 200% and progesterone receptor content to 300% of that found for cells grown In phenol red-free media, thereby reducing the degree to which exogenous estrogen is able to stimulate responses. The anti- estrogens tamoxifen and hydroxytamoxifen inhibit cell prolif- eration below the control level only when cells are grown in the presence of phenol red; in the absence of phenol red, the antiestrogens do not suppress growth. The estrogenic activity of phenol red should be considered in any studies that utilize estrogen-responsive cells in culture. 0 0 ~~~~~~OCH3 0~~~~

Phenol red in tissue culture media is a weak estrogen: Implications concerning the study of estrogen-responsive cells in culture (cell proliferation/human breast cancer/antiestrogens/hormone responsiveness/estrogen receptor)

John A. KATZENELLENBOGENt

Papers

Phenol red in tissue culture media is a weak estrogen: Implications concerning the study of estrogen-responsive cells in culture (cell proliferation/human breast cancer/antiestrogens/hormone responsiveness/estrogen receptor)