[The assessment of xenoestrogens by competitive receptor binding assays]

A key target of environmental chemicals, so-called endocrine disruptors, is the nuclear receptors which function as a transcription factor essential for the specific gene expression. In recent years, a number of chemicals that bind to the estrogen receptor, a member of nuclear receptors, have been identified. However, these chemicals bear little structural resemblance to natural estrogens, and thus it is important particularly for assessment and prediction of xenoestrogens to evaluate the structural essentials for binding to the receptor. In this review, together with the recent research topics in the field, we describe the current knowledge of methodology of competitive binding assays for estrogen receptors and the results of subsequent structure-activity studies.