Meeting Abstract
The growing use of oral contraceptives and hormone therapeutics prompts concerns that estrogenic and progestogenic compounds are present in wastewater at concentrations that may affect the reproductive health of aquatic animals as well as humans who consume affected animals. In this study, potential endocrine active compounds were extracted from effluent produced by the Charleston Water System wastewater facility at Plum Island according to EPA method 1694. The extract, when concentrated 100 times, activated the human nuclear estrogen and progesterone receptors in an in vitro transactivation assay. This provides a mechanism for the alterations in secondary sex characteristics that have been reported in fishes exposed to effluent at other locations. Bioaccumulation of some synthetic hormones has also been reported in teleost fishes. There is, therefore, potential for humans to be exposed to endocrine active compounds through consumption of these fishes. To explore the potential biological consequences of human exposure to these endocrine active compounds during sensitive windows of development, we also evaluated the effects of neonatal exposure to progestogens on the reproductive development of mice. Quantitative RT-PCR analysis of target genes from adult mice treated with the synthetic progesterone 17α-hydroxyprogesterone caproate (17PC) as neonates suggested that developmental exposure to progestogens decreases sensitivity to E2 at the uterine transcriptome level. These data indicate a need for further exploration of the long-term impacts of neonatal progestogen exposure on reproductive development.
