Evaluation of Six Personal Care Products for Estrogenic Activity in a Yeast Estrogen Screen.

Estrogenic compounds (EC) are chemicals that mimic the action of natural estrogens and cause an endocrine disruption in many species. In the present study, ethanolic extracts of six personal care products (skin and hair care products) were tested for their ability to bind to human estrogen receptors α and β in the yeast estrogen screen (YES). YES involves spectrophotometric measurements of the accumulation of colored products at 405 and 570 nm because of the EC-receptor binding. One of the PCPs, a sunscreen, showed a significant increase in the product absorbance of the yeast sample exposed to it, indicating the presence of EC. However, the examination of the sunscreen absorption spectrum showed signs of aggregation in the aqueous solution of the sunscreen, which strongly contributed to the sample light scattering and the inflated absorbance reading. The limitations of the spectrophotometric method of EC detection were discussed.