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Volume 2 Environment Pollution and Climate Change
ISSN: 2573-458X Climate Change 2018 &
Global ENVITOX 2018
October 04-06, 2018
October 04-06, 2018
London, UK
16th Annual Meeting on
Environmental Toxicology and Biological Systems
&
5th World Conference on Climate Change
JOINT EVENT
Testing for anti-androgenic activity, pitfalls and possible misinterpretations
Nicola Anne Beresford
Brunel University London, UK
Androgens (such as dihydrotestosterone) are a major class of steroid hormones that have key functions in the development
and maintenance of the male reproductive system. Chemicals in the environment that act as anti-androgens (able to
bind to the androgen receptor and block the normal action of androgens) could impact human and wildlife development
and reproduction. Yeast based anti-androgen assays can give false positive results depending on various factors. Some
misinterpretations are due to the nature of the chemicals and others are due to the way that the assay is run. This article
examines a group of environmental chemicals for anti-androgenic activity and compares the results from two yeast-based assay
methods to determine which is the most robust. Over 100 environmental chemicals were tested using a recombinant yeast cell
line expressing the human androgen receptor. Both were colorimetric assays with method-1, wherein the substrate was added
to the medium at the start of the incubation and in method-2, where the substrate was only added to the medium once the
cells had been lysed. By both methods, the anti-androgenic potencies of 16 chemicals were very similar but method-2 was less
prone to false positive results when close to toxic concentrations. We therefore consider method-2 to be a more robust assay.
Biography
Nicola Anne Beresford has been carrying out Environmental Research at Brunel University London for 22 years. She now leads the Environment and Health
Technical Team in addition to working part-time on her PhD in Environmental Sciences. Whilst working at Brunel, she has authored almost 30 publications and half
of these present results from yeast-based assays.
Nicola Anne Beresford, Environ Pollut Climate Change 2018, Volume 2
DOI: 10.4172/2573-458X-C1-003