Estradiol and pesticide methoxychlor do not exhibit additivity or synergism in the reproductive tract of adult ovariectomized mice

Methoxychlor affects multiple hormone signaling pathways in the largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) liver

Methoxychlor (MXC) is an organochlorine pesticide that has been shown to have estrogenic activity by activating estrogen receptors and inducing vitellogenin production in male fish. Previous studies report that exposure to MXC induces changes in mRNA abundance of reproductive genes in the liver and testes of largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides). The objective of the present study was to better characterize the mode of action of MXC by measuring the global transcriptomic response in the male largemouth liver using an oligonucleotide microarray. Microarray analysis identified highly significant changes in the expression of 37 transcripts (p<0.001) (20 induced and 17 decreased) in the liver after MXC injection and a total of 900 expression changes (p<0.05) in transcripts with high homology to known genes. Largemouth bass estrogen receptor alpha (esr1) and androgen receptor (ar) were among the transcripts that were increased in the liver after MXC treatment. Functional enrichment analysis identified the molecular functions of steroid binding and androgen receptor activity as well as steroid hormone receptor activity as being significantly over-represented gene ontology terms. Pathway analysis identified c-fos signaling as being putatively affected through both estrogen and androgen signaling. This study provides evidence that MXC elicits transcriptional effects through the estrogen receptor as well as androgen receptor-mediated pathways in the liver.

Metabolomics approach to risk assessment: methoxyclor exposure in rats

The primary objective of this study was to develop exposure biomarkers that "correlate with the endocrine-disrupting effects induced by methoxyclor (MTC), an organochlorine pesticide, using" urinary (1)H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectral data. Exposure biomarkers play an important role in risk assessment. MTC is an environmental endocrine disruptor with estrogenic, anti-estrogenic, and anti-androgenic properties. A new approach of proton nuclear magnetic resonance ((1)H NMR) urinalysis using pattern recognition was proposed for exposure biomarkers of MTC in female rats. The endocrine disruptor was expected to induce estrogenic effects in a dose dependent manner which, was confirmed by the uterotrophic assay. MTC [50, 100, or 200 m g/kg/d, orally (p.o.) or subcutaneously (s.c.)] was administered to ovariectomized female Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats for 3 d consecutively and urine was collected every 24 h. The animals were sacrificed 24 h after the last dose. All animals treated orally with MTC showed a significant increase in uterine and vaginal weight at all doses. However, in the s.c. route, only a high dose of 200 mg MTC/kg induced a significant increase in uterine and vaginal weight. (1)H NMR spectroscopy revealed evident separate clustering between pre- and post-treatment groups using global metabolic profiling through principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least square (PLS) discrimination analysis (DA) after different exposure routes. With targeted profiling, the endogenous metabolites of acetate, alanine, benzoate, lactate, and glycine were selected as putative exposure biomarkers for MTC. Data suggest that the proposed putative exposure biomarkers may be useful in a risk assessment of the endocrine-disrupting effects produced by MTC.

Methoxychlor suppresses the 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD)-inducible CYP1A1 expression in murine Hepa-1c1c7 cells

Methoxychlor (MXC) is a pesticide that was developed as a replacement for dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT). The influence of MXC on CYP1A1 expression or the functions of mouse hepatoma Hepa-1clc7 remain unclear. Cultured Hepa-1c1c7 cells were treated with MXC with or without 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) to assess the role of MXC on CYP1A1 expression. MXC alone did not affect CYP1A1-specific 7-ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase (EROD) activity. In contrast, TCDD-inducible EROD activities were markedly reduced upon concomitant treatment with TCDD and MXC in a concentration-dependent manner. Treatment with ICI 182.780, an estrogen-receptor antagonist, did not affect the suppressive effects of MXC on TCDD-inducible EROD activity. TCDD-inducible CYP1A1 mRNA levels were markedly suppressed upon treatment with TCDD and MXC, and this is consistent with their effects on EROD activity. A transient transfection assay using dioxin-response element (DRE)-linked luciferase and an electrophoretic mobility shift assay revealed that MXC reduced the transformation of the aryl hydrocarbons (Ah) receptor to a form capable of specifically binding to the DRE sequence in the promoter region of the CYP1A1 gene. These results suggest that the downregulation of CYP1A1 gene expression by MXC in Hepa-1c1c7 cells might be an antagonism of the DRE binding potential of the nuclear Ah receptor but is not mediated through the estradiol receptor.

The pesticide methoxychlor decreases myotube formation in cell culture by slowing myoblast proliferation

We studied the effect of the estrogenic pesticide methoxychlor (MXC) on skeletal muscle development using C2C12 cell culture. Myoblast cultures were exposed to various concentrations of MXC at various times during the process of myoblast fusion into myotubes. We observed that MXC exposure decreased myotube formation. In addition, we observed myoblasts with cytoplasmic vacuoles in cultures exposed to MXC. Because cytoplasmic vacuoles can be characteristic of cell death, apoptosis assays and trypan blue exclusion assays were performed. We found no difference in the frequency of apoptosis or in the frequency of cell death for cultures exposed to MXC and untreated cultures. Collectively, these results indicate that MXC exposure decreases myotube formation without causing cell death. In contrast, when cell proliferation was assessed, untreated cultures had a myoblast proliferation rate 50% greater than cultures exposed to MXC. We conclude that MXC decreases myotube formation at least in part by slowing myoblast proliferation. Furthermore, we suggest that direct exposure to MXC could affect skeletal muscle development in animals or humans, in addition to the defects in reproductive development that have previously been reported.

Validation study of OECD rodent uterotrophic assay for the assessment of estrogenic activity in Sprague-Dawley immature female rats

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is developing a screening and testing method to identify estrogenic/antiestrogenic compounds. Based on these demands, phase 1 study for OECD uterotrophic assay was undertaken. The OECD is in the process of validating the assay results from international participating laboratories, which carried out this study with established environmental estrogenic compounds using designed protocols. The aim of this study was to provide data for validating the OECD uterotrophic assay using Sprague-Dawley immature female rats when testing with weak or partial estrogenic compounds. Ethinyl estradiol (EE) at 0.3 or 1 microg/kg/d, a positive control used in the present study, significantly increased both uterine wet and blotted weights. In the case of weak estrogenic compounds, the uterine wet weights were significantly increased by bisphenol A (BPA) at 300 mg/kg/d, nonylphenol (NP) at 80 mg/kg/d, genistein (GN) at 35 mg/kg/d, and methoxychlor (MXC) at 500 mg/kg/d. In addition, the increase in uterine blotted weights also showed a similar pattern to that of uterine wet weights. However, both 1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorphenyl)ethane (o,p-DDT) and dibutyl phthalate (DBP) did not affect uterus (wet and blotted) weights at doses of 100 and 500 mg/kg/d. These results suggest that the increase in uterine weights should be considered useful as a sensitive endpoint for detecting weak estrogenic compounds in 3-d rodent uterotrophic assay. However, further combination studies using surrogate biomarkers may be needed to improve the sensitivity of this assay for the detection of weak estrogenic compounds, such as o,p-DDT.

The multidrug resistance-associated protein 1 transports methoxychlor and protects the seminiferous epithelium from injury

We examined the ability of the multidrug resistance-associated protein 1 (MRP1/ABCC1) to transport pesticides, as this transporter mediates the cellular efflux of a variety of xenobiotics, typically as glucuronide, sulfate, or glutathione conjugates. NIH3T3 cells stably expressing MRP1 were 3.37-fold more resistant to the toxicity of fenitrothion, 3.12-fold more resistant to chlorpropham, and 2.5-fold more resistant to methoxychlor, a pesticide with estrogenic and anti-androgenic metabolites. The cells expressing MRP1 also eliminated methoxychlor two times more rapidly than their mock-transfected counterparts. We then examined whether mrp1 expression could alter the toxicity of methoxychlor in vivo using male FVB/mrp1 knockout mice (FVB/mrp1-/-). Both control and knockout mice were fed 25 mg/kg methoxychlor in honey for 39 days, and its effects on testicular morphology were examined. Methoxychlor treatment did not significantly affect testicular morphology in the FVB mice, but markedly reduced the number of developing spermatocytes in the FVB/mrp1-/- mice. These results suggest that MRPI may play a role in protecting the seminiferous tubules from methoxychlor-induced damage.

Enhancing effects of beta-estradiol 3-benzoate but not methoxychlor on the promotion/progression stage of chemically-induced mammary carcinogenesis in ovariectomized rats

Modifying effects of beta-estradiol 3-benzoate (EB) and methoxychlor (MXC), a pesticide which possesses weak estrogenic activity, on 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene (DMBA)-induced mammary carcinogenesis were investigated in ovariectomized or intact female Sprague-Dawley rats. Twenty-eight weeks after a single DMBA (100 mg / kg body weight) initiation, when the incidence of mammary tumor-bearing rats had reached 75%, a number of the animals were subjected to ovariectomy in order to obtain 3 groups: i) tumor-bearing, ovariectomized group; ii) tumor-bearing, intact group; iii) no-tumor, ovariectomized group. Subsequently animals of each group were subjected to subcutaneous implantation of 0.5 mg EB or given diet containing 1000 ppm MXC for 13 weeks. Although the incidences, multiplicities and volumes of the palpable tumors gradually decreased after ovariectomy, EB treatment stimulated tumor growth in the tumor-bearing, ovariectomized group thereafter. A similar effect of EB treatment was also observed in the no-tumor, ovariectomized group. However, MXC did not show any effect in the tumor-bearing, or no-tumor ovariectomized groups, except that the multiplicity of tumors was significantly decreased by MXC treatment in the tumor-bearing, intact group. The results of our study suggest that MXC has no promotion / progression effect, but rather possesses a weak inhibitory effect, whereas the strongly estrogenic substance EB clearly enhanced DMBA-induced mammary tumorigenesis.

The hidden effect of estrogenic/antiandrogenic methoxychlor on spermatogenesis

Perinatal and juvenile oral treatment of rats with methoxychlor (MXC) only during development reduces testicular size and Sertoli cell number in those animals as adults. The objectives were to determine if MXC administered orally reduces numbers of spermatogonia and daily sperm production that parallel reduction in Sertoli cell number and if germ cell degeneration rate or function of individual Sertoli cells was also affected. Rat dams were gavaged with MXC at 0, 5, 50, or 150 mg/kg/day for the week before and after they gave birth. Resulting male pups (14-16 per group) then were dosed directly from postnatal day 7 to 42. Testes were fixed in Bouin's fixative, postfixed in osmium tetroxide, and embedded in Epon. Sections of 0.5 and 20 microm were evaluated stereologically. Across dose groups, body weight was not affected, but testicular weight was significantly reduced in a dose-dependent fashion. Spermatogenic potential based on number of spermatogonia and number of spermatids per testis was significantly reduced by treatment. There was no adverse effect on daily sperm production per gram of parenchyma based on spermatids; however, the number of spermatogonia per gram was reduced. The ratio of spermatid number per spermatogonia was higher in the MXC-treated groups. This difference indicated that the testis can compensate for the treatment-induced reduction in number of spermatogonia by reducing degeneration of their progeny. However, the reduced number of Sertoli cells prevented the compensation from recovering the daily sperm production per testis totally. Given that endocrine disruptors like MXC can induce compensation during spermatogenesis, it may reduce the ability of the testis to compensate during subsequent exposures.

The pesticide methoxychlor disrupts the fusion of myoblasts into myotubes in skeletal muscle cell culture

We studied the effect of the estrogenic pesticide methoxychlor (MXC) on skeletal muscle development using C2C12 muscle cell culture. Various concentrations of MXC or beta-estradiol (E) were added to the culture media. MXC (100 microM) disrupted myoblast fusion into myotubes, but 10 microM MXC or 10 microM E had no effect. Correlated with the diminished size of the myotubes, the clustering of acetylcholine receptors (AChRs) was inhibited by 100 microM MXC, but not by 10 microM MXC or 10 microM E. However, since clusters of AChR receptors did form, the postsynaptic clustering mechanism remained intact. Since E did not disrupt myoblast fusion into myotubes or the clustering of AChRs, we conclude that the abnormality induced by MXC is mediated by a mechanism of action that is independent of E. We believe this to be the first demonstration that MXC induces abnormal effects in the process of muscle development in skeletal muscle cell culture.

The effects of natural and synthetic steroid estrogens in relation to their environmental occurrence

Laboratory-based acute toxicity data and physiological studies relating to natural and synthetic steroid estrogens in a range of animals and plants are reviewed. Steroid estrogens may induce adverse effects in animals that do or do not express the estrogen receptor, and in plants, and they may mimic other hormones or induce nonestrogenic effects. Although the findings of such studies should be treated with caution when extrapolated to possible environmental effects, the available data indicate that a wide range of effects may be manifested in a diversity of species. The environmental occurrence of the compounds and possible environmental exposure routes are also reviewed and discussed in relation to the laboratory-based acute toxicity data. While there are likely to be difficulties in relating some of the observed laboratory data to possible environmental effects, studies undertaken on fish are directly relevant because exposure pathways and concentrations were related to those occurring in the environment. Effects that may occur in the environment are discussed in relation to their significance to the individual and at the species level.