Recently the environmental obesogen hypothesis has been formulated, proposing a role for endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) in the development of obesity. To evaluate this hypothesis, a screening system for obesogenic compounds is urgently needed. In this study, we suggest a standardised protocol for obesogen screening based on the 3T3-L1 cell line, a well-characterised adipogenesis model, a...

To identify the androgenic potency of commonly used antimicrobials, an in vitro androgen receptor-mediated transcriptional activity assay was employed to evaluate the androgenic/antiandrogenic activity of parabens and selected other antimicrobials containing a phenolic moiety. This cell-based assay utilizes a stably transfected cell line that lacks critical steroid metabolizing enzymes and is f...

Chemicals such as phthalates, parabens, bisphenol A (BPA) and triclosan (TCS), used in a wide variety of consumer products, are suspected endocrine disrupters although their level of toxicity is thought to be low. Combined exposure may occur through ingestion, inhalation and dermal exposure, and their toxic as well as combined effects are poorly understood. The objective of the study was to est...

in the light of the Danish clause of safeguard banning the use of parabens in cosmetic products intended for children under three years of age

Parabens are widely used as preservative substances in foods, pharmaceuticals, industrial products, and cosmetics. But several studies have cautioned that parabens have estrogenic or endocrine-disrupting properties. Drosophila melanogaster is an ideal model in vivo to detect the toxic effects of chemistry. The study was designed to assess the potential additive toxic effects of methylparaben (M...

In this paper, the electrochemical behaviour of several parabens preservatives, i.e. esters of p-hydroxybenzoic acid, methyl-, ethyl- and propyl-4-hydroxybenzoates as methyl-, ethyl- and propyl-parabens (MB, EB, and PB), has been investigated at a commercial boron-doped diamond electrode (BDDE), especially in the anodic potential range, in both hydro-alcoholic and aqueous media. The cyclic volt...

P. D. Darbre,* A. Aljarrah, W. R. Miller, N. G. Coldham, M. J. Sauer and G. S. Pope 1 Division of Cell and Molecular Biology, School of Animal and Microbial Sciences, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6AJ, UK 2 The Edinburgh Breast Unit Research Group, Paderewski Building, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh EH4 2XU, UK 3 Department of Bacterial Diseases, Veterinary Laboratories Agency, Weybri...

BACKGROUND Parabens are widely used as antimicrobial preservatives in cosmetics, -pharmaceuticals, and food and beverage processing. OBJECTIVES We assessed exposure to methyl, ethyl, propyl, and butyl parabens in a representative sample of persons >or= 6 years of age in the U.S. general population from the 2005-2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. METHODS We analyzed 2,548...

Exposure to endocrine disruptors, used as additives, preservatives, plasticisers and solvents in numerous consumer products, might cause adverse health effects. Humans exposed to these chemicals, metabolise and excrete them mostly via urine. Urinary metabolite concentrations are used as biomarkers of exposure. We evaluated the exposure of 4-month pregnant women and their children at 2 years of ...

Inhibitors of aflatoxin production of aflatoxigenic fungi are useful for preventing aflatoxin contamination in crops. As methyl syringate weakly inhibits aflatoxin production, aflatoxin production inhibitory activities of additional alkyl syringates with alkyl chains from ethyl to octyl were examined. Inhibitory activity toward aflatoxin production of Aspergillus flavus became stronger as the l...