Most in vitro reporter gene assays used to assess estrogenic contamination are based on human estrogen receptor α (hERα) activation. However, fish bioassays can have distinct response to estrogenic chemicals and mixtures, questioning the relevance of human-based bioassays for assessing risk to this species. In this study, zebrafish liver cells stably expressing zebrafish ERβ2 (ZELHβ2) and human breast cancer cells expressing hERα (MELN) were used to quantify the estrogenic activity of 25 surface water samples of the Danube River, for which chemicals have been previously quantified. Most samples had a low estrogenic activity below 0.1 ng/L 17β-estradiol-equivalents that was more often detected by MELN cells, while ZELHβ2 response tend to be lower than predicted based on the chemicals identified. Nevertheless, both bioassays quantified well a higher estrogenic activity at two sites, which was confirmed in vivo using a transgenic zebrafish assay. The results are discussed considering the effect-based trigger values proposed for water quality monitoring.

大多数体外用于评估雌激素污染的报告基因检测是基于人类雌激素受体 α (hERα) 的激活。然而，鱼类生物测定可能对雌激素化学物质和混合物有明显的反应，质疑基于人类的生物测定评估该物种风险的相关性。在这项研究中，稳定表达斑马鱼 ERβ2 (ZELHβ2) 的斑马鱼肝细胞和表达 hERα (MELN) 的人类乳腺癌细胞用于量化多瑙河 25 个地表水样品的雌激素活性，其中化学物质之前已被量化。大多数样品的雌激素活性低于 0.1 ng/L 17β-雌二醇当量，这更常被 MELN 细胞检测到，而 ZELHβ2 反应往往低于基于鉴定的化学物质的预测。尽管如此，在体内使用转基因斑马鱼试验。考虑到为水质监测提出的基于效果的触发值，对结果进行了讨论。