Endocrine Disruptors: From Endocrine to Metabolic Disruption
Abstract
Synthetic chemicals currently used in a variety of industrial and agricultural applications are leading to widespread contamination of the environment. Even though the intended uses of pesticides, plasticizers, antimicrobials, and flame retardants are beneficial, effects on human health are a global concern. These so-called endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) can disrupt hormonal balance and result in developmental and reproductive abnormalities. New in vitro, in vivo, and epidemiological studies link human EDC exposure with obesity, metabolic syndrome, and type 2 diabetes. Here we review the main chemical compounds that may contribute to metabolic disruption. We then present their demonstrated or suggested mechanisms of action with respect to nuclear receptor signaling. Finally, we discuss the difficulties of fairly assessing the risks linked to EDC exposure, including developmental exposure, problems of high- and low-dose exposure, and the complexity of current chemical environments.
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The majority of laboratory animal exposure/toxicity studies have focused on DEHP and DBP/DiBP, with limited studies examining the toxicities of other phthalates.
“Thus far, the majority of the laboratory animal exposure/toxicity studies have focused on DEHP and DBP/DiBP, with limited studies examining the toxicities of other phthalates [164,165,166,167,168,169,170,171,172,173,174,175,176,177,178,179,180,181,182,183,184,185,186,187,188,189,190,191].”
From A Review of Biomonitoring of Phthalate Exposures (2019) · cites this paper as [166]
Phthalate exposures have been shown to result in insulin resistance.
“Phthalate exposures have been shown to result in insulin resistance [166,194].”
From A Review of Biomonitoring of Phthalate Exposures (2019) · cites this paper as [166]
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- Authors
- Casals-Casas, C., & Desvergne, B.
- Affiliations
- Center for Integrative Genomics, Faculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, 1015 Switzerland;
- University of Lausanne (CH)
- ORCID
- Desvergne, Béatrice
- Venue
- Annual Review of Physiology
- Publisher
- Annual Reviews
- Published
- 2011-03-17
- Volume
- 73
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 135-162
- ISSN
- 0066-4278 (ISSN-L)
- 1545-1585
- OpenAlex
- W2133461377
- Cited by
- 902
- References
- 10
- Citations by year
- 2026: 33 · 2025: 59 · 2024: 56 · 2023: 67 · 2022: 65 · 2021: 53 · 2020: 79 · 2019: 68 · 2018: 61 · 2017: 67 · 2016: 63 · 2015: 61 · 2014: 63 · 2013: 54 · 2012: 39
- FWCI
- 5.51
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Annual Review of Physiology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- IRIS (submittedVersion)
- SERVAL (Université de Lausanne) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Effects and risks of endocrine disrupting chemicals
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Toxic Organic Pollutants Impact
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Estrogen and related hormone effects
- Keywords
- endocrine disruptors, metabolic disruption, nuclear receptor signaling, obesity, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, early life exposure, pesticide exposure, plasticizers, flame retardants, antimicrobial agents, environmental contamination, risk assessment, mechanism of action
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2, Environmental Exposure, Environmental Pollutants, Female, Humans, Male, Obesity, Signal Transduction, Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear, Metabolic Syndrome, Mice, Rats, Endocrine Disruptors
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