In-vitro assays for determination of oestrogenic activity.

At present, in-vitro bioassays are predominantly being seen as tools to identify, through screening programs, whether or not individual chemical compounds have an effect on the endocrine system. However, as the techniques mature, they are likely to find use in the future in monitoring of discharges to the environment for any biological effect and will compliment the range of chemical and biological techniques also available for monitoring environmental quality. Such an approach has already been utilised by a number of workers to fractionate mixtures (e.g. final effluents from STW), to isolate the oestrogenically active components and subsequently identify the compounds which are active. This paper reviews the present state of in-vitro techniques for determination of oestrogenic activity and discusses present approaches to their use in environmental monitoring in conjunction with chemical analyses in toxicity identification and evaluation.