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Detection of Agonistic Activities Against Five Human Nuclear Receptors in River Environments of Japan Using a Yeast Two-Hybrid Assay

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Abstract

A total of 16 water samples from four rivers in Japan were examined for their agonistic activities against five human nuclear receptors (estrogen receptor [ER] α, thyroid hormone receptor α, retinoic acid receptor [RAR] α, retinoid X receptor α, and vitamin D receptor) by using a yeast two-hybrid assay. The results suggest that the river environment is contaminated with endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) that can interact with a variety of nuclear receptors and that contamination with those that have RAR agonistic activity may be more serious than contamination with well-known EDCs that act as ER agonists.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Professor J. Nishikawa (School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Mukogawa Women’s University, Japan) for kindly providing the recombinant yeast for the NR binding affinity assays. This study was supported in part by the FY2008 Environmental Technology Development Fund from the Ministry of the Environment, Japan, and the Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B) 20760362 from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan.

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Correspondence to Michihiko Ike.

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Inoue, D., Nakama, K., Matsui, H. et al. Detection of Agonistic Activities Against Five Human Nuclear Receptors in River Environments of Japan Using a Yeast Two-Hybrid Assay. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 82, 399–404 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-008-9616-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-008-9616-1

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