PCBs as Environmental Estrogens: Turtle Sex Determination as a Biomarker of Environmental Contamination: "PCBs as Environmental Estrogens: Turtle Sex Determination as a Biomarker of Environmental Contamination
Judith M. Bergeron,1 David Crews,1 and John A. McLachlan2
1Department of Zoology, Institute of Reproductive Biology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712 USA
2National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709 USA
Introduction
Materials and Methods
Results and Discussion
Abstract

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are widespread, low-level environmental pollutants associated with adverse health effects such as immune suppression and teratogenicity. There is increasing evidence that some PCB compounds are capable of disrupting reproductive and endocrine function in fish, birds, and mammals, including humans, particularly during development. Research on the mechanism through which these compounds act to alter reproductive function indicates estrogenic activity, whereby the compounds may be altering sexual differentiation. Here we demonstrate the estrogenic effect of some PCBs by reversing gonadal sex in a reptile species that exhibits temperature-dependent sex determination. Key words: biomarker, environmental estrogens, gonadal sex, PCBs, sexual differentiation, temperature-dependent sex determination. Environ Health Perspect 102:780-781 (1994)
http://ehpnet1.niehs.nih.gov/docs/1994/102-9/bergeron.html




Environmental Health Perspectives, Volume 102, Number 9, September 1994
PCBs as Environmental Estrogens: Turtle Sex Determination as a Biomarker of Environmental Contamination
Judith M. Bergeron,1 David Crews,1 and John A. McLachlan2
1Department of Zoology, Institut"