CEVASCO , Alessandra

A wide range of environmental pollutants called Endocrine Disrupters (ED) can mimic steroid hormones causing adverse health effects. Previous studies have demonstrated that bisphenol-A (BPA) represents a relevant compound within chemicals present in water and sediments coming from a polluted area of the Po plain. This study is aimed to...

DMRT1 has been suggested to be the first conserved gene involved in sex differentiation found from invertebrates to human. DMRT1 genes have been characterised in several species of fish, but have not been isolated in carp (Cyprinus carpio). Carp has been widely studied as an indicator of pollution in watercourses throughout South-Europe, and so...

Exposure to Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs) is suspected to be the cause for the increasing number of reproductive disorders in wildlife. It is well established that many chemicals in the environment can interfere with signalling mechanisms/hormonal regulation of fish at concentrations considerably below those causing cellular toxicity....

African clawed toad (Xenopus laevis) has been established as a very suitable model for studying the effects of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs) on reproductive biology. In a previous study we demonstrated severe alterations of testis organization (i.e. reduction of tubule diameter and number of germ cell nests and occurrence of small...

A number of man-made chemicals has been shown to mimic endogenous hormones and to induce alterations of reproductive physiology in wild populations. Of particular importance are compounds that mimic estrogens and androgens (and their antagonists), because of their central role in reproductive function. In this study, male and female adult South...

Le risposte che l'organismo realizza quando e sottoposto ad uno stress metabolico od ambientale rappresentano potenziali biomarcatori utilizzabili per il monitoraggio. Mediante lo studio delle risposte immediate un biomarcatore permette infatti di prevedere con notevole anticipo l'insorgenza di effetti nocivi come cancerogenesi, alterazioni...

The effects on gonad morphology, sex steroid and vitellogenin (VTG) plasma levels were investigated in k2 carps exposed to graded concentrations of tamoxifen, ethynyl-oestradiol (EE2), flutamide and methyl-dihydro-testosterone (MDHT), four chemicals chosen as prototype of anti-estrogenic, estrogenic, anti-androgenic and androgenic activities,...

Numerosi inquinanti organici, tra cui i policlorinati bifenili (PCB) hanno la capacita di bioaccumularsi nei tessuti dei pesci e di interferire con il loro sistema endocrino determinando alterazioni soprattutto a carico del sistema riproduttivo e sistema nervoso. L'accumulo di tali sostanze nei tessuti dei prodotti ittici, direttamente...

Chemical analyses of bed sediments and tissues of wild cyprinids sampled downstream from the confluence of the River Lambro, a polluted tributary that drains a heavily industrialised sub-basin of the Po River, showed the presence of moderate concentrations of xenoestrogens (Viganò et al., Arch. Environ. Contam. Toxycol., 38: 209, 2000). About...

The objective of this study was to correlate morphological and biochemical parameters of reproductive activity in fish exposed to graded concentrations of endocrine disrupting chemicals. Two-year-old carps were exposed for two weeks to graded concentrations of ethynyl-estradiol, tamoxifen, and flutamide. For each chemical, morphological...

Many diseases are the outcome of a complex inter-relationship between multiple genetic and environmental factors. Research suggests that individual susceptibility is influenced more by certain genes than by exposure to environmental agents. The startup of Human genome project has induced the activation, by NIEHS, of a companion project: the...

La spigola, Dicentrarchus labrax, non solo e considerata un buon bioindicatore della qualita dell'ambiente marino costiero ma e anche una delle specie marine piu diffuse nell'acquicoltura mediterranea ed in particolare italiana. L'uomo, attraverso il consumo di prodotti ittici, puo essere esposto a diversi contaminanti ambientali. Oltre ai...

The production of estrogens in the brain is a highly important function in vertebrate reproduction and brain development. Aromatase (CYP19) that catalyzes the conversion of androgens to estrogens which is a rate-limiting step estrogen biosynthesis. Adult Xenopus laevis were exposed in vivo to Lambro (LAM) river water, the most polluted...

Sulfation plays a major role in regulating the active concentrations of a variety of biologically important molecules, including steroids, catecholamines and peptides. Sulfation is also important in the detoxification of many xenobiotics. Hydroxysteroid sulfotransferase (HST) catalyses the biosynthesis of sulfated steroids in classical...

Aromatase P450 (P450 arom; Cyp19) is a key enzyme for vertebrate reproduction and brain development that catalyzes the conversion of androgens to estrogens. The aim of this study was to improve the knowledge on EDC effects by analysing their potential impact on brain P450 arom in adult Xenopus laevis exposed for 4 weeks to an environmental...

A wide range of environmental pollutants commonly termed endocrine disrupters (ED) can mimic steroid hormones causing adverse health effects. Recent studies showed that bisphenol A (BPA) together with other estrogenic chemicals, may be responsible for the disrupting effects observed in fish of the middle River Po. The present study has...

Po River, the principal Italian water course, and its affluent receive compounds that can act as endocrine disrupters (EDs) in fish community. The Lambro River is a tributary of the Po River and drains a heavily industrialised and densely inhabited sub-basin of the main river; the stretches located upstream and downstream of their confluence...

Several pollutants released to the environment, are biotransformed into more soluble molecules, in liver, by several enzymes, as catalase and glutathione-S-tranferase, which are fundamental for detoxification and excretion. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships among xenobiotic levels and CAT and GST enzymatic activities,...

The Po river, the principal Italian watercourse, and its affluent collect compounds that can act as endocrine disrupters (EDs) in fish community. Lambro River, is the most polluted tributary that drains a heavily industrialised and densely inhabited sub-basin of the main river. Recently, Lambro contamination by PCDDs and PCDFs, at...

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Sulfation plays a major role in regulating the active concentrations of a variety of biologically important molecules, including steroids, catecholamines and peptides. Sulfation is also important in the detoxification of many xenobiotics. Hydroxysteroid sulfotransferase (HST) catalyses the biosynthesis of sulfated steroids in classical...

Environmental pollutants exhibit a variety of adverse biological effects on human health. Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) can modulate differentiation, metabolism and function of the white adipose tissue (WAT) in humans through a wide range of mechanisms able to exert their effects in the whole organism. Moreover, interactions among different...