Projects
26: Development of a mass spectrometric based assay for the analysis and screening of endocrine disruptors.
Mass spectromety for the analysis of endocrine disruptors.
It is likely that more compounds than is known are endocrine disruptors. Here, a method based on mass spectrometry is developed to allow fast and efficient identification of compounds with unknown endocrine-disrupting properties.
Zenobi Renato, ETH, Zürich
e-mail: zenobi@org.chem.ethz.ch
Background
Endocrine disruptors affect the endocrine system even in very low doses. Therefore, the identification of these compounds is difficult and most of the chemicals used today are not tested for potential endocrine-disrupting effects.
For the systematic identification of endocrine disruptors it would be desirable to have a method that allows the screening of a large number of compounds for their endocrine-disrupting properties within a short period of time. The intention is to achieve this goal with mass spectrometry, a sensitive and fast analytical technique.
Binding of a compound to a protein from the endocrine system can be detected with mass spectrometry due to the mass increase of the protein. The mass difference can be used to characterize or even to identify this compound.
Aim
In the first phase of the project we will establish the technological basis for the detection of the binding between potential endocrine disruptors and proteins of the endocrine system using mass spectrometry. In the second phase we will apply these techniques to determine the overall effect of different endocrine-disrupting mixtures. We will also evaluate the extent to which it is possible to identify known and unknown compounds in environmental samples.
Significance
The endocrine effect often occurs when organisms are exposed to very low doses of endocrine disruptors for a long period of time. Identification of new endocrine-disrupting substances has therefore proven to be difficult. Mass spectrometry could contribute to the identification and further characterization of potential new endocrine disruptors.