TDK conference 2024

Endocrine disruptors are molecules that can influence the hormonal system of both humans and animals by mimicking or blocking the effects of natural hormones. In our experiment, we examined the effects of Zearalenone (ZEA), an endocrine disruptor compound produced by the widely occurring Fusarium fungi, which primarily enters the body through the consumption of contaminated grains. This mycotoxin, by acting as an agonist or antagonist of estrogen receptors, disrupts and modulates healthy hormonal and developmental processes, thereby causing various diseases and pathological conditions in the body.

The aim of our experiment was to investigate how ZEA affects estrogen (ERα, ERβ), thyroid hormone receptors (TRα, TRβ), and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARγ) in vivo. We sought to determine whether ZEA can detectably alter the expression of these receptors and how our measured results compare to previous studies conducted under in vitro conditions.

In our study, we examined the potential endocrine-disrupting effects of ZEA in 18-day-old mice under in vivo conditions, with a particular focus on the mRNA expression of TRα, TRβ, ERα, ERβ, and PPARγ. The animals were treated with three different concentrations of ZEA solution: 40 μg, 5 mg, and 10 mg, after which the hypothalamus and cerebellum were removed, and the mRNA content of the samples was measured using quantitative real-time PCR.

The results revealed that even small amounts of ZEA significantly altered the expression of ERα and PPARγ in vivo. For ERs, we observed varying results depending on the subtype and brain region. In the ERα analysis, a significant increase in hormone receptor expression was observed in the cerebellum sample with the 40 μg ZEA treatment, while no significant changes were observed with other concentrations, in the hypothalamus, or in the ERβ analysis. The expression levels of TRα and TRβ were not significantly altered by the treatment; however, for PPARγ, an increase in mRNA expression was observed in hypothalamic cells after the 40 μg treatment.

Based on the presented results, it can be concluded that ZEA, as an endocrine disruptor, indeed interferes with the functioning of the hormonal system. However, our hypothesis is only partially supported, as under the applied experimental conditions, ZEA altered expression levels less conspicuously compared to previous in vitro findings.