an Endocrine Society Thematic Issue
Read our special collection of journal articles, published in 2019–2020, focused on endocrine-disrupting chemicals! Curation of the collection was guided by Altmetric Attention Scores and Featured Article designations.
Jacobson and colleagues, writing in Journal of the Endocrine Society, demonstrate that in US children and adolescents, urinary concentrations of bisphenol F and bisphenol S (BPS), widely used substitutes for bisphenol A (BPA), are both associated with measures of obesity. And in Endocrinology, Vandenberg and coauthors criticize the misuse of historical controls in “guideline” studies used in regulatory decision-making, including the CLARITY-BPA study. Egusquiza and Blumberg review new evidence on the role of obesogens in the worldwide obesity pandemic.
One of the worries about endocrine disruptors is their effect in utero. Ruis and coauthors demonstrate, also in Endocrinology, that in rats and humans, polybrominated diphenyl ethers, used as flame retardants and common environmental contaminants, accumulate in the fetal portion of the placenta and appear to affect thyroid hormone levels in a sex-specific manner. Schneider and colleagues review computer-assisted methods for modeling ligands and targets that can be used to predict chemicals’ endocrine-disrupting effects.
Neff and coauthors show in Endocrinology that BPA disrupts endocrine signaling in the mouse uterus, where it may contribute to the pathogenesis of hyperplasia and cancer. Peshdary and coauthors find that BPS has different effects on the adipokine profiles of omental and subcutaneous human pre-adipocytes. And Deol and colleagues show that soybean oil, which became a major component of the American diet during the 20th Century and has not generally been considered an endocrine disruptor, nonetheless affects hypothalamic gene expression and oxytocin levels in male mice and may be associated with glucose intolerance.
In JCEM, Puttabyatappa and coauthors establish generally negative associations between individual endocrine disruptor levels in early pregnancy and measures of oxidative stress in mother-infant dyads, but positive, sex-specific associations with mixtures of the endocrine disruptors identified as principal components. Woodward and coauthors find evidence that plasma sex hormone concentrations in men are linked to phthalate metabolite levels in a manner that depends on the molecular weight of the phthalate as well as age of the men.
Bansal and colleagues look at DNA methylation and expression in second trimester human amniocytes exposed to BPA in utero, finding sex-specific expression changes in pathways linked to metabolic disease and novel differentially methylated regions. And Howard and Dunkel discuss the evidence that endocrine disruptors may be a cause of delayed puberty in Endocrine Reviews.
Published: April 2020
It can be difficult to keep up to date in the rapidly evolving and expanding world of endocrine science. We curate topical collections of research from across our journals, Endocrine Reviews, Endocrinology, Journal of the Endocrine Society, and The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, so that you can easily find and read recent, influential articles on the topics that interest you.
Selection in each Thematic Issue is guided by online metrics, including Altmetric Attention Scores, Featured Article designations, and identification of leading authors and key topics. Each month, we publish a new Thematic Issue online and work to highlight and promote endocrine science in the press, through email, on social media and across other distribution channels.
Join our endocrine community and become a member! Only members receive access to a variety of member benefits that will enhance your career. If your membership has lapsed, rejoin today so that you can continue to receive your membership benefits.
We provide our journal authors with a variety of resources for increasing the discoverability and citation of their published work. Use these tools and tips to broaden the impact of your article.