Study of alternative ecotoxicological tests in the evaluation of endocrine disruptors in water: emphasis on in vitro assays

Abstract

Recently, the presence of chemicals with capability to interfere with the function of endocrine systems of animals in their environments has generated a considerable scientific interest, and it has stimulated the development of fast and reliable methods to detect these substances in the wild. The final decision of whether a substance can be classified as an endocrine disruptor is often based on tests in vivo. However, tests in vitro are promising alternatives for these tests, with the advantages of reducing the use of animals, the costs, and the time for obtaining responses. Then, the general objective of this project is to analyse the applicability of tests in vitro to evaluate disruptor present in surface water from Spanish surface waters, and to perform ecotoxicological tests using the estrogenic substances E2 and EE2. Furthermore, we aim to evaluate the descontamination capability after simple adsorption experiments. These data will be compared with results obtained with classical experiments using alive animals developed by us in Brazil, which will permit to seek for a reliable alternative for substituting animals in these analyses. (AU)