Enzacamene

Several studies suggest that enzacamene elicit estrogen-like effects. In prepubertal male rats exposed to enzacamene during embryonic and fetal development, decrease in testicular weight with decreased levels of LH, GnRH, and glutamate were observed; in comparison, there was an increase in LH, GnRH, and aspartate levels in peripubertal rats. These findings suggest that high concentrations of enzacamene during embryonic and fetal stage inhibits the testicular axis in male rats during the prepubertal stage and stimulates it during peripubertad stage. In a study of zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryo, exposure to enzacamene during early vertebrate development was associated with muscular and neuronal defects that may result in developmental defects, including a reduction in AChE activity, disorganized pattern of slow muscle fibers, and axon pathfinding errors during motor neuron innervation. Enzacamene displays a weak binding activity in receptors binding assays using the mammalian estrogen receptor (ER).

Enzacamene absorbs UV-B rays. It is proposed that enzacamene exerts estrogen-like activities in the same direction as endogenous estrogens via nonclassical estrogen signaling mechanisms that do not involve gene regulation by the nuclear ER. It binds to cytosolic estradiol binding sites of estrogen receptors with low to moderate affinity compared to that of the endogenous agonist. Based on the findings of a study with _Xenopus_ hepatocytes in culture, enzacamene has a potential to induce the ER gene only at higher concentrations (10–100 μmol/L). While enzacamene was not shown to activate estrogen-dependent gene transcription when tested in an ER reporter gene assay in yeast cells, it was demonstrated in _Xenopus_ hepatocytes cultures that activate ER-dependent signaling mechanisms leading to altered gene expression. In micromolar concentrations, enzacamene accelerates cell proliferation rate in MCF-7 human breast cancer cells.