Organic synthetic environmental endocrine disruptors: structural classes and metabolic fate

Endocrine disruption is the modification of the endocrine system causing harmful effects in healthy subjects or their offspring. Physiological endocrine hormones act at very low plasma concentrations, and certain chemicals known as endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) are suspected of modifying endocrine function at similarly low concentrations. In our review we focus mainly on the structural classes of organic synthetic environmental endocrine disruptors and their common structural elements that enable them to interact with estrogen signalling. EDCs can affect estrogenic signalling directly through interaction with estrogen receptors (ERs) or indirectly through transcription factors such as the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) or by modulation of critical metabolic enzymes engaged in estrogen biosynthesis and metabolism. However, some structural elements can also pose a great risk of cytotoxicity and genotoxicity, especially after biotransformation to reactive metabolites.