Epigenetics represents the way by which the environment is able to program the genome; there are three main levels of epigenetic control on genome: DNA methylation, post-translational
histone modification and
microRNA expression. The term Epigenetics has been widened by NIH to include "both heritable changes in gene activity and expression but also stable, long-term alterations in the transcriptional potential of a cell that are not necessarily heritable." These changes might be produced mostly by the early life environment and might affect health influencing the susceptibility to develop diseases, from
cancer to
mental disorder, during the entire life span. The most studied environmental influences acting on epigenome are diet,
infections, wasting, child care, smoking and
environmental pollutants, in particular endocrine disrupters (EDs). These are environmental
xenobiotics able to interfere with the normal development of the male and female reproductive systems of wildlife, of experimental animals and possibly of humans, disrupting the normal reproductive functions. Data from literature indicate that EDs can act at different levels of epigenetic control, in some cases transgenerationally, in particular when the exposure to these compounds occurs during the prenatal and earliest period of life. Some of the best characterized EDs will be considered in this review. Among the EDs,
vinclozolin (VZ), and
methoxychlor (MXC) promote epigenetic transgenerational effects. Polychlorinated biphenils (
PCBs), the most widespread environmental EDs, affect
histone post-translational modifications in a dimorphic way, possibly as the result of an alteration of gene expression of the
enzymes involved in
histone modification, as the demethylase Jarid1b, an
enzyme also involved in regulating the interaction of
androgens with their receptor.