Date of Award

1-1-2019

Document Type

Open Access Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Public Health (MPH)

Department

School of Public Health

First Advisor

Shannon Whirledge

Abstract

Crumb rubber, an infill substance made from repurposed tires, has been examined for its carcinogenic potential but no studies have looked at its endocrine disrupting potential to date. After prioritizing 306 chemical components of crumb rubber using computational models, four endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) thought to possess estrogenic activity were chosen for further in vitro testing. In addition to these chemicals, a crumb rubber concentrated media (CRCM) was created for mixture analysis. Gene expression assays for estrogenic activity were conducted on Ishikawa, HepG2 and MCF-7 immortalized cell lines exposed to 4-tert-octylphenol, dibenz(a,h)anthracene, fluoranthene, chrysene and CRCM. Based on the findings of this study, crumb rubber is a potential mediating factor in harmful reproductive outcomes. Further discussion is needed to juxtapose these biological models with exposure assessment.

Comments

This is an Open Access Thesis.

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