title: Disruption of endocrine function in H295R cell in vitro and in zebrafish in vivo by naphthenic acids.
abstract: Oil sands process-affected water (OSPW) have been reported to exhibit endocrine disrupting effects on aquatic organisms. Although the responsible compounds are unknown, naphthenic acids (NAs) have been considered to be implicated. The current study was designed to investigate the endocrine disruption of OSPW extracted NAs (OS-NAs) and commercial NAs (C-NAs) using a combination of in vitro and in vivo assays. The effects of OS-NAs and C-NAs on steroidogenesis were assessed both at hormone levels and expression levels of hormone-related genes in the H295R cells. The transcriptions of biomarker genes involved in endocrine systems in zebrafish larvae were investigated to detect the effects of OS-NAs and C-NAs on endocrine function in vivo. Exposure to OS-NAs and C-NAs significantly increased production of 17β-estradiol (E2) and progesterone (P4), and decreased production of testosterone (T). Both OS-NAs and C-NAs significantly induced the expression of several genes involved in steroidogenesis. The abundances of transcripts of biomarker gene CYP19b, ERα, and VTG were significantly up-regulated in zebrafish larvae exposed to OS-NAs and C-NAs, which indicated that NAs had negative effects on estrogen-responsive gene transcription in vivo. These results indicated that NAs should be partly responsible for the endocrine disrupting effects of OSPW.
authors.affiliation: State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
authors.forename: Xiaofeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China.
authors.forename: Jinhua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China. Electronic address: yhuang@pku.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoyan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Tang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002264:Carboxylic Acids / Q000633:toxicity*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D052244:Endocrine Disruptors / Q000633:toxicity*; D004967:Estrogens / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D006801:Humans; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008297:Male; D011374:Progesterone / Q000378:metabolism; D015027:Zebrafish
chemical_list: D002264:Carboxylic Acids; D052244:Endocrine Disruptors; D004967:Estrogens; D011374:Progesterone; C046170:naphthenic acid
keywords: Estrogen receptor; Naphthenic acids; Steroidogenesis; VTG