Arylsulfatase
and β-glucuronidase are two important enzymes
in humans, which play an important role in the dynamic equilibrium
of steroidal estrogens. This work probably for the first time reported
that hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), hypochlorite,
and peracetic acid (PAA) could effectively inhibit the activities
of arylsulfatase and/or β-glucuronidase. The 50% of inhibitions
(IC50) of H2O2, hypochlorite, and
PAA on arylsulfatase were found to be 142.90 ± 9.00, 91.83 ±
10.01, and 43.46 ± 2.92 μM, respectively. The corresponding
IC50 values of hypochlorite and PAA on β-glucuronidase
were 704.90 ± 41.40 and 23.26 ± 0.82 μM, whereas H2O2 showed no inhibition on β-glucuronidase.
The inhibitions of arylsulfatase and/or β-glucuronidase by these
three chemicals were pH-dependent. It was further revealed that the
inhibitions of hypochlorite on both arylsulfatase and β-glucuronidase
were irreversible. On the contrary, the inhibitions by H2O2 and PAA were reversible. In addition, the inhibition
by H2O2 was competitive and that by PAA was
noncompetitive. In general, H2O2 and hypochlorite
can be endogenously produced in humans, which suggested that the two
compounds are potential endocrine disruption compounds (EDCs) as they
can cause endocrine disruption via the inhibition of arylsulfatase
and β-glucuronidase. This work further indicated that any agent
that can induce the production of H2O2 or hypochlorite
in humans is a potential EDC, which explains why some EDCs with very
weak or no estrogenic potency can cause endocrine disruption, which
is confirmed in epidemiological studies.