Toxicity of Methoxyacetic Acid in Cultured Human Luteal Cells

Ethylene glycol monomethyl ether (EGME) and its proximate metabolite,2-methoxyacetic acid (MAA), increase ovarian luteal cell progesteroneproduction in the female rat in vivo and in cultured rat lutealcells in vitro, respectively. In order to better assess thepotential hazard of EGME and MAA to women, these studies wereconducted to determine whether the same concentrations of MAAincrease progesterone in human luteinized granulosa cells asin rat luteal cells. Human cells were collected from healthyanonymous oocyte donors, washed, plated 25,000 viable cellsper well, and treated with 10 IU hCG and 0–5 mM MAA for6–48 hr. Progesterone in media was significantly elevatedafter 24 hr incubation at 1 mM MAA. MAA had no effect on ATPlevels at 6 or 24 hr. Thus, MAA increased progesterone productionin cultured human luteal cells at the same concentration asMAA increased progesterone in rat luteal cells. The implicationis that EGME has the potential to alter ovarian luteal functionin women. These data should be useful for determining the realhealth hazards and potential risks of EGME exposure.