Endocrine disrupters. The case of oestrogenic xenobiotics II: synthetic oestrogens

Abstract

In recent years, it has been demonstrated that endocrine systems of living beings can be altered by many chemical substances of anthropogenic origin, designated as endocrine disrupters. There are growing concerns about the number of these endocrine disrupters. It has not been possible to define a single chemical structure that allows the classification of a chemical compound as a mimic of female sex hormones, so that chemical structures similar to natural estrogens, based on cyclopentanoperhydrophenanthrene, share their hormonal effect with stilbenes, bisphenols, alkylphenols, dioxins, furans and parabenes. The recognition of estrogenic activity in different biological models has been used to update the list of xenoestrogens and reveal sources of human exposure that were previously unknown. New previously unsuspected chemical compounds have been added to the list, as well as their precursors, metabolites and degradation products, whose effects are only now beginning to be recognised.