0000000000771066
AUTHOR
Risto Santti
Wood-derived estrogens: studies in vitro with breast cancer cell lines and in vivo in trout.
The wood-derived compound, beta-sitosterol (purity > 90%), was shown to be estrogenic in fish. It induced the expression of the vitellogenin gene in the liver of juvenile and methyltestosterone-treated rainbow trout. Structural similarities to beta-sitosterol notwithstanding, cholesterol, citrostadienol, beta-sitostanol, and 5-androstene-3 beta,17 beta-diol, an estrogenic member of the androstenic steroid group, were inactive. An abietic acid mixture (37% abietic acid, 6% dehydroabietic acid, and a remainder of unknown compounds) showed slight hormonal activity in feed, but it was completely inactive when given intraperitoneally in implants. The estrogenic component of the abietic acid prep…
Expression of the Vitellogenin Gene in the Liver of Juvenile Whitefish (Coregonus lavaretus L. s.l.) Exposed to Effluents from Pulp and Paper Mills
Juvenile whitefish (Coregonus lavaretus L. s.l.) were exposed by caging in the field to diluted effluents from three operating pulp, paper, and paperboard mills in Southern Lake Saimaa, Finland. The expression of the vitellogenin gene, used as a biomarker of estrogenic contamination of effluents, was measured using a Northern blotting method. Increased mRNA levels, the most specific and reliable evidence for estrogen receptor-mediated actions in vivo, were found in fish caged in the vicinity of one of three mills studied. This mill was found to discharge wood-derived compounds, such as sterols and resin acids, into Lake Saimaa in amounts considerably exceeding those from the other two mills…