Christy R. Lambright

Cumulative Effects of In Utero Administration of Mixtures of “Antiandrogens” on Male Rat Reproductive Development

Although risk assessments are typically conducted on a chemical-by-chemical basis, the 1996 Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) required the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to consider cumulative risk of chemicals that act via a common mechanism of toxicity. To this end, we are conducting studies with mixtures to provide a framework for assessing the cumulative effects of “antiandrogenic” chemicals. Rats were dosed during pregnancy with antiandrogens singly or in pairs at dosage levels equivalent to about one half of the ED50 for hypospadias or epididymal agenesis. The pairs include: AR antagonists (vinclozolin plus procymidone), phthalate esters (DBP plus BBP and DEHP plus DBP), a phthalate ester plus an AR antagonist (DBP plus procymidone), and linuron plus BBP. We predicted that each chemical by itself would induce few malformations; however, by mixing any two chemicals together, about 50% of the males would be malformed. All binary combinations produced cumulative, dose-additive effects on the androgen-dependent tissues. We also conducted a mixture study combining seven “antiandrogens” together. These chemicals elicit antiandrogenic effects at two different sites in the androgen signaling pathway (i.e., AR antagonist or inhibition of androgen synthesis). In this study, the complex mixture behaved in a dose-additive manner. Our results indicate that compounds that act by disparate mechanisms of toxicity display cumulative, dose-additive effects when present in combination.

Detection of androgenic activity in emissions from diesel fuel and biomass combustion

The present study evaluated both diesel fuel exhaust and biomass (wood) burn extracts for androgen receptor-mediated activity using MDA-kb2 cells, which contain an androgen-responsive promoter-luciferase reporter gene construct. This assay and analytical fractionization of the samples were used as tools to separate active from inactive fractions, with the goal of identifying the specific compounds responsible for the activity. A significant androgenic response was detected from the diesel emission. High-performance liquid chromatographic fractionation of the sample indicated that significant androgenic activity was retained in three fractions. 4-Hydroxybiphenyl was identified from the most active fraction using gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy. This purified compound was then tested at doses from 1 nM to 100 microM. 4-Hydroxybiphenol exhibited antagonist activity at low concentrations and agonist activity at high concentrations. A competitive-binding assay confirmed binding to the androgen receptor, with a median inhibitory concentration for radioligand binding of approximately 370 nM. Significant androgenic activity also was detected in the wood burn samples, but we were unable to identify the specific chemicals responsible for this endocrine activity. The present study demonstrates that in vitro bioassays can serve as sensitive bioanalytical tools to aid in characterization of complex environmental mixtures.