Comparison of in vitro and in vivo estrogenic activity of UV filters in fish

In this work, we evaluate whether in vitro systems are good predictors for in vivo estrogenic activity in fish. We focus on UV filters being used in sunscreens and in UV stabilization of materials. First, we determined the estrogenic activity of 23 UV filters and one UV filter metabolite employing a recombinant yeast carrying the estrogen receptor of rainbow trout (rtERa) and made comparisons with yeast carrying the human hERa for receptor specificity. Benzophenone-1 (BP1), benzophenone-2 (BP2), 4,4-dihydroxybenzophenone, 4-hydroxybenzophenone, 2,4,4-trihydroxy-benzophenone, and phenylsalicylate showed full dose– response curves with maximal responses of 81–115%, whereas 3-benzylidene camphor (3BC), octylsalicylate, benzylsalicylate, benzophenone-3, and benzophenone-4 displayed lower maximal responses of 15–74%. Whereas the activity of 17b-estradiol was lower in the rtERa than the hERa assay, the activities of U