TY - JOUR
T1 - Molecular approaches to identify exposure and risk to specific environmental pollutants
AU - Vanden Heuvel, John P.
AU - Davis, John W.
N1 - Funding Information:
Current work on alteration of gene expression by xenobiotics is supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH DK49009 and NIH ES 07799). Previous support from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the National Toxicology Program is gratefully recognized.
PY - 1999
Y1 - 1999
N2 - Ecotoxicology and environmental epidemiology require an intimate understanding of the relationship between exposure of a population to a pollutant and the subsequent biological effects. This article summarizes two relatively new and powerful techniques to examine both exposure and response to environmental pollutants which build upon an increased understanding of how particular classes of chemicals elicit toxicity at the molecular level. The genetic reporter assay can be used to examine the exposure and potential toxicity of environmental samples. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is an exquisitely sensitive and adaptable procedure to examine early events, i.e. biomarkers, that might be indicative of exposure and/or sensitivity to a chemical insult. Taken together, these assays are important new tools in assessing the exposure and risk of human and wildlife populations to such important pollutants as dioxins, PCBs, oestrogenic and anti-oestrogenic compounds, phthalate esters, DDT metabolites and heavy metals.
AB - Ecotoxicology and environmental epidemiology require an intimate understanding of the relationship between exposure of a population to a pollutant and the subsequent biological effects. This article summarizes two relatively new and powerful techniques to examine both exposure and response to environmental pollutants which build upon an increased understanding of how particular classes of chemicals elicit toxicity at the molecular level. The genetic reporter assay can be used to examine the exposure and potential toxicity of environmental samples. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is an exquisitely sensitive and adaptable procedure to examine early events, i.e. biomarkers, that might be indicative of exposure and/or sensitivity to a chemical insult. Taken together, these assays are important new tools in assessing the exposure and risk of human and wildlife populations to such important pollutants as dioxins, PCBs, oestrogenic and anti-oestrogenic compounds, phthalate esters, DDT metabolites and heavy metals.
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U2 - 10.1080/135475099230903
DO - 10.1080/135475099230903
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:0033018751
SN - 1354-750X
VL - 4
SP - 93
EP - 105
JO - Biomarkers
JF - Biomarkers
IS - 2
ER -