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Hu X, Shi W, Wei S, Zhang X, Yu H. Identification of (anti-)androgenic activities and risks of sludges from industrial and domestic wastewater treatment plants. ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION (BARKING, ESSEX : 1987) 2021; 268:115716. [PMID: 33011575 DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2020.115716] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2020] [Revised: 09/20/2020] [Accepted: 09/21/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
The annual production of sludges is significant all over the world, and large amounts of sludges have been improperly disposed by random dumping. The contaminants in these sludges may leak into the surrounding soils, surface and groundwater, or be blown into the atmosphere, thereby causing adverse effects to human health. In this study, the (anti-)androgenic activities in organic extracts of sludges produced from both industrial and domestic wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) were examined using reporter gene assay based on MDA-kb2 cell lines and the potential (anti-)androgenic risks were assessed using hazard index (HI) based on bioassays. Twelve of the 18 samples exhibited androgen receptor (AR) antagonistic activities, with AR antagonistic equivalents ranging from 1.2 × 102 μg flutamide/g sludge to 1.8 × 104 μg flutamide/g sludge; however, no AR agonistic activity was detected in any of the tested samples. These 12 sludges were all from chemical WWTPs; no sludges from domestic WWTPs displayed AR antagonistic activity. Aside from wastewater source, treatment scale and technology could also influence AR antagonistic potencies. The HI values of all the 12 sludges exceeded 1.0, and the highest HI value was above 3.0 × 103 for children; this indicates that these sludges might cause adverse effects to human health and that children are at a greater risk than adults. The anti-androgenic potencies and risks of the subdivided fractions were also determined, and medium-polar and polar fractions were found to have relatively high detection rates and contribution rates to the AR antagonistic potencies and risks of the raw sample extracts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xinxin Hu
- School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Shandong University of Technology, Zibo, China; State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China
| | - Wei Shi
- State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.
| | - Si Wei
- State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China
| | - Xiaowei Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China
| | - Hongxia Yu
- State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China
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Zhang J, Liu R, Niu L, Zhu S, Zhang Q, Zhao M, Liu W, Liu J. Determination of endocrine-disrupting potencies of agricultural soils in China via a battery of steroid receptor bioassays. ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION (BARKING, ESSEX : 1987) 2018; 234:846-854. [PMID: 29248852 DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2017.12.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/08/2017] [Revised: 12/03/2017] [Accepted: 12/03/2017] [Indexed: 05/16/2023]
Abstract
Pollution of agricultural soils by pesticides, such as organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), can be a significant issue since high detection rates of these compounds were reported in our previous studies. However, more uncertain kinds, quantities and density of pollutants remained in soil samples were unidentified. In this study, the total hormonal activities of complex mixtures of both known and unknown contaminants in agricultural soils in mainland China were measured by applying highly sensitive reporter gene assays for detecting agonists/antagonists for estrogen receptor (ER), androgen receptor (AR), progesterone receptor (PR), glucocorticoid receptor (GR) and mineralocorticoid receptor (MR). High detection rates of estrogenic activities and anti-progestogenic activities were observed among the 123 soil samples, reaching 79% and 73%, respectively. More than half of the soil samples showed obvious antagonistic effects against AR and GR. Approximately a third of tested samples exhibited androgenic, progestogenic and glucocorticoidic effects. A total of 72% and 78% soil extracts had mineralocorticoid-like and anti-mineralocorticoid activities, respectively. Significant positive correlations were observed between estrogenic activity and the concentrations of Σdichlorodiphenyltrichloroethanes (DDTs), Σendosulfans, Σchlordanes, heptachlor and Σdrins, respectively, but not other receptors. As a rapid and convenient pre-caution method, determination of endocrine-disrupting potencies of contaminated soils via bioassay could help to identify and define sites that required further attention for ecological risk assessments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jianyun Zhang
- MOE Key Laboratory of Environmental Remediation and Ecosystem Health, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Rui Liu
- MOE Key Laboratory of Environmental Remediation and Ecosystem Health, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Lili Niu
- MOE Key Laboratory of Environmental Remediation and Ecosystem Health, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China; Research Center for Air Pollution and Health, Institute of Environmental Health, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China; College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 310036, China
| | - Siyu Zhu
- MOE Key Laboratory of Environmental Remediation and Ecosystem Health, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Quan Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology for Industrial Pollution Control of Zhejiang Province, College of Environment, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310032, China
| | - Meirong Zhao
- Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology for Industrial Pollution Control of Zhejiang Province, College of Environment, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310032, China
| | - Weiping Liu
- MOE Key Laboratory of Environmental Remediation and Ecosystem Health, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China; Research Center for Air Pollution and Health, Institute of Environmental Health, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Jing Liu
- MOE Key Laboratory of Environmental Remediation and Ecosystem Health, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China; Research Center for Air Pollution and Health, Institute of Environmental Health, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.
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Guo J, Shi W, Chen Q, Deng D, Zhang X, Wei S, Yu N, Giesy JP, Yu H. Extended Virtual Screening Strategies To Link Antiandrogenic Activities and Detected Organic Contaminants in Soils. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2017; 51:12528-12536. [PMID: 28956905 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.7b03324] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
A tiered screening strategy based on extensive virtual fractionation and elucidation was developed to simplify identification of toxicants in complex environments. In tier1-virtual fractionation, multivariate analysis (MVA) was set up as an alternative of physical fractionation. In tier2-virtual structure elucidation, in-house quantitative structure-retention relationship (QSRR) models and toxicity simulation methods were developed to simplify nontarget identification. The efficiency of the tiered virtual strategy was tentatively verified by soil samples from a chemical park contaminated by antiandrogenic substances. Eight out of 18 sites were detected as antiandrogenic, while none of them exhibited androgenic agonist potencies. Sixty-seven peaks were selected for further identification by MVA, among which over 90% were verified in androgenic fractions in traditional effect-directed analysis (EDA). With 579 tentative structures generated by in silico fragmentation, 74% were elucidated by QSRR and 65% were elucidated by in silico toxicity prediction. All prior peaks were identified at different confidence levels with over 40% of the identified peaks above confidence level 2b, which has been increased over 40% with less than half of the time spent compared to traditional EDA. Such a combination of tiered virtual screening methods provides more efficient and rapid identifications of key toxicants at contaminated sites.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | - John P Giesy
- Department of Veterinary Biomedical Sciences and Toxicology Centre, University of Saskatchewan , Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N5B3, Canada
- Department of Zoology and Center for Integrative Toxicology, Michigan State University , East Lansing, Michigan 48824, United States
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Hong Kong , Hong Kong, SAR China
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Kong D, Wang Y, Wang J, Teng Y, Li N, Li J. Evaluation and characterization of thyroid-disrupting activities in soil samples along the Second Songhua River, China. ECOTOXICOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY 2016; 133:475-480. [PMID: 27526021 DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2016.08.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2016] [Revised: 08/05/2016] [Accepted: 08/08/2016] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
In this study, a recombinant thyroid receptor (TR) gene yeast assay combined with Monte Carlo simulation were used to evaluate and characterize soil samples collected from Jilin (China) along the Second Songhua River, for their ant/agonist effect on TR. No TR agonistic activity was found in soils, but many soil samples exhibited TR antagonistic activities, and the bioassay-derived amiodarone hydrochloride equivalents, which was calculated based on Monte Carlo simulation, ranged from not detected (N.D.) to 35.5μg/g. Hydrophilic substance fractions were determined to be the contributors to TR antagonistic activity in these soil samples. Our results indicate that the novel calculation method is effective for the quantification and characterization of TR antagonists in soil samples, and these data could provide useful information for future management and remediation efforts for contaminated soils.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dongdong Kong
- Engineering Research Center of Groundwater Pollution Control and Remediation, Ministry of Education, College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Yafei Wang
- Engineering Research Center of Groundwater Pollution Control and Remediation, Ministry of Education, College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Jinsheng Wang
- Engineering Research Center of Groundwater Pollution Control and Remediation, Ministry of Education, College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Yanguo Teng
- Engineering Research Center of Groundwater Pollution Control and Remediation, Ministry of Education, College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Na Li
- State Key Laboratory of Environmental Aquatic Chemistry, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 2871, Beijing 100085, China
| | - Jian Li
- Engineering Research Center of Groundwater Pollution Control and Remediation, Ministry of Education, College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
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