Title: Monitoring of endocrine disruptors in surface waters by the yeast recombinant assay 
Resource Type: document --> technical publication --> journal article 
Country: EU Projects 
Year: 2001 
Availability: Garcia-Reyero, Natàlia et al. (2001) Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Vol. 20, No. 6, pp. 1152–1158, 2001 
Author 1/Producer: Garcia-Reyero, Natàlia 
Other Authors/Producers: Grau, Eulàlia Castillo, Montserrat López de Alda, Maria J. Barceló, Damià Piña, Benjamin 
Author / Producer Type: EC Project 
Article Weblink (=direct link): http://projects.dhi.dk/artdemo/Publications/MONITORING%20OF% ...  
Format (e.g. PDF): PDF 
EUGRIS Keyword(s): Contaminated land-->Contaminants-->Contaminants overview
 
Short description: Endocrine disruptors exert physiological effects at very low concentrations. Surface waters present often a mixture of high concentrations of low-potency disruptors and low amounts of very powerful ones, making their chemical analysis complicated and expensive. We developed a recombinant yeast assay (RYA) for estrogenic compounds using 96-well microtiter plates. This assay is based on three yeast strains, transformed with self-propagating plasmids. One strain contains an expression plasmid for the human estrogen hormone receptor and an appropriate reporter; it detects estrogenic and antiestrogenic activities. The two other yeast strains, one expressing the human progesterone receptor and a second based on the yeast activator Gal4p, served to analyze the nature of antiestrogenic activities. We applied this technique to water samples from two tributaries of the Llobregat river (NE Spain) as well as from four sewage treatment plants discharging on them. Our results indicate that the efficiency of sewage treatment plants for eliminating estrogenic compounds varied notably, being in at least one case completely inefficient. We also observed a prevalence of an inhibitory activity all through the two rivers; this inhibition was hormone specific. These results were consistent to previously obtained chemical analyses of the same samples, although chemical and in vivo analyses showed rather different levels of sensitivity for some compounds. Our findings demonstrate the utility of the yeast recombinant assay for analyzing complex natural samples; at the same time, they stress the necessity of a panel of different yeast systems to adequately describe endocrinedisruptor activities. 
Link to Project(s): ARTDEMO Artificial recharge demonstration project
 
Submitted By: Dr Stefan Gödeke WhoDoesWhat?      Last update: 14/02/2006

This site uses cookies to improve your user experience. By using this site you agree to these cookies being set.
To find out more see our Privacy Policy.
OK