Abstract
As part of an investigation into the cause of premature thelarche in Puerto Rico, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) conducted various laboratory analyses to screen for estrogenic sources. Samples were obtained from case and control households, children, parents, and environmental sources. Serum samples were analyzed from parents and children and household water samples for chlorinated hydrocarbons and no results were found above normal. Using gas chromatography/ mass spectroscopy (GC/MS) procedures, serum was analyzed for zearalanol and its derivatives. Fifteen case samples especially collected from recently diagnosed cases and six controls were analyzed by a contract laboratory and 21 residual case samples previously collected for hormone determinations were analyzed by the CDC laboratory. Four case samples from the residual sample set were reported presumptively positive for zearalanol. Sufficient sera were not available for confirmation. All other serum samples were negative at the 10–20 ppb1 detection level for both laboratories. Analyses of 96 case samples for estradiol, follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) yielded values within the normal reference range. The rat uterine cytosol-receptor assay was used as nonspecific screen for estrogenic activity. Two different contract laboratories used this assay to analyze milk, meat, poultry, and water samples collected from the households and local markets. The reliability of this assay was dependent upon the type of sample matrix. No significant difference between case and control samples were found with this screening assay.
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Hannon, W.H., Hill, R.H., Bernert, J.T. et al. Premature thelarche in Puerto Rico: A search for environmental estrogenic contamination. Arch. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 16, 255–262 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01054942
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01054942