Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, McGill University, Montréal, Quebec, H3G 1Y6, Canada.
Environmental Health Science and Research Bureau, Healthy Environments and Consumer Safety Branch, Health Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0K9, Canada.
Toxicol Sci. 2024 Jun 26;200(1):95-113. doi: 10.1093/toxsci/kfae052.
Organophosphate esters (OPEs), used as flame retardants and plasticizers, are present ubiquitously in the environment. Previous studies suggest that exposure to OPEs is detrimental to female fertility in humans. However, no experimental information is available on the effects of OPE mixtures on ovarian granulosa cells, which play essential roles in female reproduction. We used high-content imaging to investigate the effects of environmentally relevant OPE mixtures on KGN human granulosa cell phenotypes. Perturbations to steroidogenesis were assessed using ELISA and qRT-PCR. A high-throughput transcriptomic approach, TempO-Seq, was used to identify transcriptional changes in a targeted panel of genes. Effects on lipid homeostasis were explored using a cholesterol assay and global lipidomic profiling. OPE mixtures altered multiple phenotypic features of KGN cells, with triaryl OPEs in the mixture showing higher potencies than other mixture components. The mixtures increased basal production of steroid hormones; this was mediated by significant changes in the expression of critical transcripts involved in steroidogenesis. Further, the total-OPE mixture disrupted cholesterol homeostasis and the composition of intracellular lipid droplets. Exposure to complex mixtures of OPEs, similar to those found in house dust, may adversely affect female reproductive health by altering a multitude of phenotypic and functional endpoints in granulosa cells. This study provides novel insights into the mechanisms of actions underlying the toxicity induced by OPEs and highlights the need to examine the effects of human relevant chemical mixtures.
有机磷酸酯(OPEs)作为阻燃剂和增塑剂广泛存在于环境中。先前的研究表明,接触 OPEs 对人类的女性生育能力有害。然而,目前还没有关于 OPE 混合物对卵巢颗粒细胞的影响的实验信息,而卵巢颗粒细胞在女性生殖中起着至关重要的作用。我们使用高内涵成像技术研究了环境相关 OPE 混合物对 KGN 人卵巢颗粒细胞表型的影响。使用 ELISA 和 qRT-PCR 评估了类固醇生成的干扰。使用 TempO-Seq 高通量转录组学方法来鉴定靶向基因面板中的转录变化。使用胆固醇测定法和全局脂质组学分析来探索脂质稳态的影响。OPE 混合物改变了 KGN 细胞的多种表型特征,混合物中的三芳基 OPE 比其他混合物成分具有更高的效力。混合物增加了类固醇激素的基础产量;这是通过参与类固醇生成的关键转录物表达的显著变化介导的。此外,总-OPE 混合物破坏了胆固醇稳态和细胞内脂滴的组成。暴露于类似于室内灰尘中发现的复杂 OPE 混合物可能通过改变颗粒细胞中多种表型和功能终点来对女性生殖健康产生不利影响。本研究为 OPE 诱导的毒性的作用机制提供了新的见解,并强调需要检查人类相关化学混合物的影响。