Endocrine disruption assessment: exposure, biomonitoring and potential activity of widespread endocrine disruptors during pregnancy and early stages of life

Identifier:  TDX:3074

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/TDX3074

Authors:  Martínez Rodríguez, María Ángeles

Abstract:
Endocrine disruptors (EDs) are exogenous substances or mixtures that alters function(s) of the endocrine system and consequently causes adverse health effects in an intact organism, or its progeny, or (sub) populations. Among these EDs, there is a group that takes an important place due to their widespread distribution and their presence in food-packaging or food contact materials. Packaging protects food from alterations. However, the packaging could be a source of contamination as migration can occur from these materials with the transfer of chemicals into the food. According to that, some bisphenols (BPA, BPS and BPF); phthalates and non-phthalate plasticizers; perfluorooalkilated substances (PFOS and PFOA) and tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) were selected in this thesis. The general hypothesis of this thesis is that there is EDs exposure during prenatal and early stages of life and this exposure can cause adverse outcomes. Therefore, the general objective of this thesis is to assess the exposure levels to different EDs from a pregnant women EXHES cohort in Tarragona, Spain and to study how these chemicals can affect normal cellular development. To address that, prenatal exposure to EDs was estimated by integrated external and internal dosimetry modelling, physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model. Followed by biomonitoring of these chemicals in different matrices (urine, blood, breast milk), reconstructed exposure and reconstructed-PBPK simulations and finally, in vitro studies to assess the endocrine potential activity for different widespread EDs were performed. Results from this thesis confirm that exposure to EDs can be observed in adult populations and in the early stages of life. This exposure can cause adverse effects. For that reason, safe alternatives to these EDs are needed. Regulations regarding the most vulnerable exposure population should be established in the endocrine disruption context.