Estrogencity activity assessment and mechanism exploration on alpha-cypermethrin in vitro

Objective To study the effects of alpha-cypermethrin on cell proliferation and ERα mRNA expression in human breast cancer cell line(MCF-7).Methods MCF-7 cells were cultivated for 5 days in 96-well plates with alpha-cypermethrin(3 groups,1.0×10-7,1.0×10-8 and 1.0×10-9 mol/L),β-estradiol(3 groups,1.0×10-7,1.0×10-9 and 1.0×10-11 mol/L).A solvent control and a blank control were also applied.Absorbance values were measured and the proliferation rates were calculated;MCF-7 cells were also cultivated by the same method.Their RNA were extracted and reversely transcripted,then the mRNA expression of ERα was observed by real-time PCR.Results Compared to the solvent control,the proliferation rates in all alpha-cypermethrin groups were significantly increased(P0.01).ERα mRNA expression levels in alpha-cypermethrin groups of 1.0×10-7,1.0×10-8 and 1.0×10-9 mol/L were 1.61,1.45 and 1.39 fold higher than those in the solvent control separately.Conclusion Alpha-cypermethrin can significantly promote MCF-7 cell proliferation,display estrogencity-like activity,and up-regulate the ERα mRNA expression.