Xenoestrogen
Xenoestrogens are clinically significant because they can mimic the effects of endogenous estrogen and thus have been implicated in precocious puberty and other disorders of the reproductive system.
Xenoestrogen
Although the physiology of the reproductive system is complex, the action of environmental exogenous estrogens is hypothesized to occur by two possible mechanisms. Xenoestrogens may temporarily or permanently alter the feedback loops in the brain, pituitary, gonads, and thyroid by mimicking the effects of estrogen and triggering their specific receptors or they may bind to hormone receptors and block the action of natural hormones. Thus it is plausible that environmental estrogens can accelerate sexual development if present in a sufficient concentration or with chronic exposure. The similarity in the structure of exogenous estrogens and the estrogens has changed the hormone balance within the body and resulted in various reproductive problems in females. The overall mechanism of action is binding of the exogenous compounds that mimic estrogen to the estrogen binding receptors and cause the determined action in the target organs.