The in vitro estrogenic activities of triclosan and triclocarban.

Triclosan (TCS) and triclocarban (TCC), as broad spectrum antibacterial agents, are distributed widely in the environment and humans. Most studies have focused on their distribution and biodegradation, but the endocrine-disrupting effects of these chemicals, especially their estrogenic effects, are still unclear. In the present study, we investigated the estrogenic effects of TCS and TCC using a series of in vitro assays, including the ER reporter gene assay in the CV-1 cells, E-screen assay and evaluation of estrogen-responsive genes in the MCF-7 cells. The tested concentrations of TCS and TCC were both from 1 × 10(-9) to 1 × 10(-6)  M. Results showed that TCS and TCC exerted estrogenic activities by inducing luciferase activities in an ER reporter gene assay, promoting the proliferation of the MCF-7 cells, up-regulating the expression of pS2 and down-regulating ERα expression at both the mRNA and protein levels in the MCF-7 cells. We further found that TCS and TCC could alter the expression of multiple microRNAs (mir-22, mir-206 and mir-193b) in the MCF-7 cells, which would help understand the mechanisms of their estrogenic effects on regulating the expression of ERα. In brief, our results demonstrated the potential estrogenic effects and profiled in vitro data for further risk assessment of TCS and TCC.