Department of Biochemical Sciences "A. Rossi Fanelli", Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Protection of Environment, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia.
Oxid Med Cell Longev. 2018 Apr 2;2018:1684827. doi: 10.1155/2018/1684827. eCollection 2018.
Nonylphenol (NP) and octylphenol (OP) are pervasive environmental contaminants belonging to the broader class of compounds known as alkylphenols, with potential human toxic effects. Classified as "xenoestrogens," NP and OP are able to interfere with the cell endocrine physiology via a direct interaction with the estrogen receptors. Here, using HepG2 cells in culture, the changes of the cell redox balance and mitochondrial activity induced by OP and NP have been investigated at M concentrations, largely below those provoking acute toxicity, as those typical of environmental contaminants. Following 24 h cell exposure to both OP and NP, ROS production appeared significantly increased ( ≤ 0.01), together with the production of higher NO oxides ( = 0.003) and peroxynitrated protein-derivatives (NP versus CTR, = 0.003). The mitochondrial proton electrochemical potential gradient instead was decreased ( ≤ 0.05), as the oxygen consumption by complex IV, particularly following incubation with NP (NP versus CTR, = 0.017). Consistently, the RT-PCR and Western blot analyses proved that the OP and NP can modulate to a different extent the expression of the inducible NOS (NP versus CTR, ≤ 0.01) and the endothelial NOS (OP versus CTR, ≤ 0.05), with a significant variation of the coupling efficiency of the latter (NP versus CTR, ≤ 0.05), a finding that may provide a novel clue to understand the specific xenoestrogenic properties of OP and NP.
壬基酚（NP）和辛基酚（OP）是普遍存在的环境污染物，属于烷基酚类化合物，具有潜在的人类毒性作用。被归类为“外源性雌激素”的 NP 和 OP 能够通过与雌激素受体的直接相互作用干扰细胞内分泌生理学。在这里，使用培养的 HepG2 细胞，研究了在 M 浓度下 OP 和 NP 引起的细胞氧化还原平衡和线粒体活性的变化，该浓度远低于引起急性毒性的浓度，这是环境污染物的典型浓度。在 HepG2 细胞暴露于 OP 和 NP 24 小时后，ROS 的产生明显增加（ ≤ 0.01），同时产生了更高的 NO 氧化物（ = 0.003）和过氧亚硝酸盐蛋白衍生物（NP 与对照相比， = 0.003）。相反，线粒体质子电化学势梯度降低（ ≤ 0.05），因为复合物 IV 的耗氧量，特别是在孵育 NP 时（NP 与对照相比， = 0.017）。一致地，RT-PCR 和 Western blot 分析证明，OP 和 NP 可以在不同程度上调节诱导型 NOS（NP 与对照相比， ≤ 0.01）和内皮型 NOS（OP 与对照相比， ≤ 0.05）的表达，并且后者的偶联效率发生显著变化（NP 与对照相比， ≤ 0.05），这一发现可能为理解 OP 和 NP 的特定外源性雌激素特性提供新的线索。
