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Effects of tris(2,3-dibromopropyl) isocyanurate on steroidogenesis in H295R cells

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Abstract

Tris(2,3-dibromopropyl) isocyanurate (TBC) is widely used in polymer products. It is ubiquitously found in environmental matrices. Previous studies have shown that TBC has potential endocrine-disrupting effects on aquatic organisms. However, the effects on adrenocortical function and the underlying mechanisms are not well characterized. In present study, the H295R cell line was employed to investigate the potential endocrine-disrupting action of TBC. TBC inhibited basal and forskolin-induced sex hormone production but did not exhibit cytotoxicity. The expression of the steroidogenic genes, StAR, 3βHSD2, CYP17, CYP21, CYP19, HMGR, 17βHSD1, 17βHSD4 and CYP11A, was not changed upon TBC exposure. However, the cAMP inducer forskolin strongly induced the expression of all these genes, except for HMGR, 17βHSD1 and 17βHSD4. TBC blocked forskolin-induced StAR, 3βHSD2, CYP17, CYP21 and CYP19 mRNA expression. Our results indicate that TBC can inhibit sex hormone biosynthesis due to the interference with steroidogenic gene transcription in activated condition.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB14030501) and the National Nature Science Foundation of China (21277062, 21477049).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Medicine, Jianghan University, Wuhan, 430056, People’s Republic of China

    Xun Li, Yu Pan, Minjie Chen, Yuchen Liu, Jia Li, Jinhua Xu & Yong Liang

  2. Institute of Environment and Health, Jianghan University, Wuhan, 430056, People’s Republic of China

    Chang Wang, Yong Liang & Maoyong Song

  3. Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Chemical Materials and Devices, Ministry of Education, School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Jianghan University, Wuhan, 430056, People’s Republic of China

    Zhen Zhou

  4. State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 2871, Beijing, 100085, People’s Republic of China

    Maoyong Song

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  1. Xun Li
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  2. Yu Pan
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Correspondence to Yong Liang or Maoyong Song.

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Li, X., Pan, Y., Wang, C. et al. Effects of tris(2,3-dibromopropyl) isocyanurate on steroidogenesis in H295R cells. Environ Earth Sci 75, 1339 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-016-6166-4

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