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Slaby S, Duflot A, Zapater C, Gómez A, Couteau J, Maillet G, Knigge T, Pinto PIS, Monsinjon T. The Dicentrarchus labrax estrogen screen test: A relevant tool to screen estrogen-like endocrine disrupting chemicals in the aquatic environment. CHEMOSPHERE 2024; 362:142601. [PMID: 38880263 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2024.142601] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2024] [Revised: 05/20/2024] [Accepted: 06/11/2024] [Indexed: 06/18/2024]
Abstract
In response to the need for the diversification of regulatory bioassays to screen estrogen-like endocrine disrupting chemical (EEDC) in the environment, we propose the use of a reporter gene assay involving all nuclear estrogen receptors from Dicentrarchus labrax (i.e., sbEsr1, sbEsr2a, or sbEsr2b). Named DLES test (D. labrax estrogen screen), it aims at complementing existing standardized in vitro tests by implementing more estrogen receptors notably those that do not originate from humans. Positive responses were obtained with all three estrogen receptors, and-consistently with observations from other species-variations in sensitivity to E2 were measured. Sensitivity and EC50 values could be classified as follows: sbEsr2b < sbEsr2a < sbEsr1. The pharmacological characterization with a human estrogen receptor antagonist (fulvestrant) successfully validated the specific involvement of each sbEsr and evidenced the capacity of the DLES test to highlight antagonist interactions. The DLES test was applied to WWTP contaminant extracts. A positive response was detected in the inflow sample in accordance with the YES test, but not in the outflow sample. Notwithstanding, the DLES test (sbEsr2b) exhibited greater sensitivity for the screening of those samples. This study demonstrates the need for more comprehensive testing including representatives of marine species for a better detection of EEDCs. The DLES test appears as a pertinent tool to predict adverse effects and to widen the scope of screening and hazard assessment of EEDCs in the environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sylvain Slaby
- Normandie Univ, UNILEHAVRE, FR CNRS 3730 SCALE, UMR-I 02 Environmental Stress and Aquatic Biomonitoring (SEBIO), Le Havre, France.
| | - Aurélie Duflot
- Normandie Univ, UNILEHAVRE, FR CNRS 3730 SCALE, UMR-I 02 Environmental Stress and Aquatic Biomonitoring (SEBIO), Le Havre, France.
| | - Cinta Zapater
- Institute of Aquaculture Torre de la Sal (IATS-CSIC), Castellon, Spain.
| | - Ana Gómez
- Institute of Aquaculture Torre de la Sal (IATS-CSIC), Castellon, Spain.
| | | | | | - Thomas Knigge
- Normandie Univ, UNILEHAVRE, FR CNRS 3730 SCALE, UMR-I 02 Environmental Stress and Aquatic Biomonitoring (SEBIO), Le Havre, France.
| | - Patrícia I S Pinto
- Laboratory of Comparative Endocrinology and Integrative Biology, Centre of Marine Sciences (CCMAR), Faro, Portugal.
| | - Tiphaine Monsinjon
- Normandie Univ, UNILEHAVRE, FR CNRS 3730 SCALE, UMR-I 02 Environmental Stress and Aquatic Biomonitoring (SEBIO), Le Havre, France.
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Tan J, Li F, Liu L, Zhang J, Gui P, He M, Zhou X. Effect-Targeted Mapping of Potential Estrogenic Agonists and Antagonists in Wastewater via a Conformation-Specific Reporter-Mediated Biosensor. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2023; 57:15617-15626. [PMID: 37802504 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.3c03223] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/10/2023]
Abstract
Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are regarded as the main sources of estrogens that reach the aquatic environment. Hence, continuous monitoring of potential estrogenic-active compounds by a biosensor is an appealing approach. However, existing biosensors cannot simultaneously distinguish and quantify estrogenic agonists and antagonists. To overcome the challenge, we developed an estrogen receptor-based biosensor that selectively screened estrogenic agonists and antagonists by introducing rationally designed agonist/antagonist conformation-specific reporters. The double functional conformation-specific reporters consist of a Cy5.5-labeled streptavidin moiety and a peptide moiety, serving as signal recognition and signal transduction elements. In addition, the conformation recognition mechanism was further validated at the molecular level through molecular docking. Based on the two-step "turn-off" strategy, the biosensor exhibited remarkable sensitivity, detecting 17β-estradiol-binding activity equivalent (E2-BAE) at 7 ng/L and 4-hydroxytamoxifen-binding activity equivalent (4-OHT-BAE) at 91 ng/L. To validate its practicality, the biosensor was employed in a case study involving wastewater samples from two full-scale WWTPs across different treatment stages to map their estrogenic agonist and antagonist binding activities. Comparison with the yeast two-hybrid bioassay showed a strong liner relationship (r2 = 0.991, p < 0.0001), indicating the excellent accuracy and reliability of this technology in real applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jisui Tan
- State Key Joint Laboratory of ESPC, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
| | - Fangxu Li
- State Key Joint Laboratory of ESPC, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
| | - Lanhua Liu
- School of Ecology and Environmental Science, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China
| | - Jing Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Water Safety for Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region of Ministry of Water Resources, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing 100038, China
| | - Ping Gui
- China Academy of Urban Planning & Design, Beijing 100037, China
| | - Miao He
- State Key Joint Laboratory of ESPC, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
| | - Xiaohong Zhou
- State Key Joint Laboratory of ESPC, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
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Durcik M, Grobin A, Roškar R, Trontelj J, Peterlin Mašič L. Estrogenic potency of endocrine disrupting chemicals and their mixtures detected in environmental waters and wastewaters. CHEMOSPHERE 2023; 330:138712. [PMID: 37068617 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.138712] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2023] [Revised: 04/03/2023] [Accepted: 04/14/2023] [Indexed: 05/14/2023]
Abstract
Endocrine disrupting chemicals such as natural and synthetic steroid hormones and bisphenols are among the most important pollutants in the aquatic environment. We performed an environmental chemical analysis of five Slovenian water samples, two rivers, one groundwater, and the influent and effluent of wastewater treatment plants, with a highly sensitive analysis of twenty-five endocrine-disrupting compounds belonging to the groups of natural hormones, synthetic hormones, and bisphenols. Since these compounds are simultaneously present in the environment, it is important to study their individual effects as well as the effects of mixtures. We investigated in vitro the estrogenic potency of selected natural and synthetic steroid hormones and bisphenols detected in surface, ground and waste water in Slovenia using the OECD-validated transactivation assay on the cell line Hela9903. We predicted their mixture effects using the concentration addition model and compared them with experimentally determined values. Two mixing designs were used: a balanced design in which chemicals were combined in proportion to their individual EC50 values, and an unbalanced design with compounds in proportion to their measured concentrations in the environmental samples. The estrogenic effects of the experimental mixtures followed the concentration addition model. Real water samples exhibited weaker estrogenic effects, showing the great heterogeneity of the real water samples.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martina Durcik
- University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Pharmacy, Aškerčeva 7, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Andrej Grobin
- University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Pharmacy, Aškerčeva 7, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Robert Roškar
- University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Pharmacy, Aškerčeva 7, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Jurij Trontelj
- University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Pharmacy, Aškerčeva 7, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
| | - Lucija Peterlin Mašič
- University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Pharmacy, Aškerčeva 7, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
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Zhang H, Kato D, Ihara MO, Jürgens MD, Johnson AC, Chen J, Tanaka H, Ihara M. Biological-Activity-Based Prioritization of Antidepressants in Wastewater in England and Japan. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2023; 57:6444-6454. [PMID: 37022287 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.2c08380] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/19/2023]
Abstract
Antidepressants are one of the most commonly prescribed pharmaceuticals. Although they have been frequently detected in aquatic environments around the globe, little is known regarding their adverse effects on humans and aquatic organisms. Recently, an in vitro monoamine transporter inhibition assay was developed to detect transporter-inhibitory activities of antidepressants in wastewater in Japan. However, it was unclear which antidepressants were responsible for transporter-inhibitory activities in wastewater. Herein, the per capita consumption of 32 antidepressants, their excretion of unchanged parent compounds, per capita water consumption, removal rate during wastewater treatment processes, and potency values from the monoamine transporter inhibition assay were used to prioritize antidepressants of concern in effluent wastewater in England and Japan. In both countries, sertraline and O-desmethylvenlafaxine had the highest contribution to inhibitory activities against the human serotonin transporter (hSERT) and zebrafish SERT (zSERT), respectively. It was found that the antidepressants inhibited the zSERT more strongly than the hSERT. The inhibitory activities found against the zSERT in wastewater in England and Japan were higher than thresholds for abnormal behavior in fish. The antidepressants prioritized in this study provide insight into launching environmental monitoring and ecotoxicological studies of antidepressants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Han Zhang
- Research Center for Environmental Quality Management, Kyoto University, 1-2 Yumihama, Otsu, Shiga 520-0811, Japan
- Key Laboratory of Industrial Ecology and Environmental Engineering (Ministry of Education), Dalian Key Laboratory on Chemicals Risk Control and Pollution Prevention Technology, School of Environmental Science and Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, Liaoning 116024, China
| | - Daisuke Kato
- Research Center for Environmental Quality Management, Kyoto University, 1-2 Yumihama, Otsu, Shiga 520-0811, Japan
| | - Mariko O Ihara
- Research Center for Environmental Quality Management, Kyoto University, 1-2 Yumihama, Otsu, Shiga 520-0811, Japan
| | - Monika D Jürgens
- Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Wallingford, Oxfordshire OX10 8BB, U.K
| | - Andrew C Johnson
- Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Wallingford, Oxfordshire OX10 8BB, U.K
| | - Jingwen Chen
- Key Laboratory of Industrial Ecology and Environmental Engineering (Ministry of Education), Dalian Key Laboratory on Chemicals Risk Control and Pollution Prevention Technology, School of Environmental Science and Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, Liaoning 116024, China
| | - Hiroaki Tanaka
- Research Center for Environmental Quality Management, Kyoto University, 1-2 Yumihama, Otsu, Shiga 520-0811, Japan
| | - Masaru Ihara
- Research Center for Environmental Quality Management, Kyoto University, 1-2 Yumihama, Otsu, Shiga 520-0811, Japan
- Faculty of Agriculture and Marine Science, Kochi University, 200 Monobe-Otsu, Nankoku City, Kochi 783-8502, Japan
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Argolo ADS, Gomes G, Bila DM. (Anti)estrogenic activity impacted by complex environmental matrices: A DOM and multiphase distribution approach. CHEMOSPHERE 2023; 310:136917. [PMID: 36272630 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.136917] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/03/2022] [Revised: 10/14/2022] [Accepted: 10/15/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
The presence of estrogenic endocrine disruptors in aquatic environments has been a concern and bioassays are recommended tools for their monitoring. However, the physicochemical properties of contaminants and the environmental matrix features may influence the resultant response. This study aimed to assess this influence on the Yeast Estrogen Screen (YES) assay. Mixtures of 17β-estradiol (E2) and humic acid (HA) were evaluated through the Schild approach aiming to investigate the interactions between estrogens and dissolved organic matter (DOM). Moreover, environmental samples from municipal landfill leachate and wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) influents and effluents were screened for (anti)estrogenic activity at both dissolved and particulate phases. Finally, results were statistically confronted with physicochemical parameters through principal component analysis (PCA). The HA test concentrations strongly reduced the E2 response, even at low levels. Humic substances may not only reduce estrogen bioavailability, but also interfere with the assay mechanism through enzymatic inhibition thus masking the sample estrogenic potential. Landfill leachate had total E2-Eq in the range 1282-2591 ng L-1, while WWTP influent and effluent were in the range 12.1-41.4 and <DL-2.3 ng L-1, so estrogenicity was reduced 92% in average. Particulate phase was responsible for 33-100% of measured E2-Eq between matrices, though cytotoxicity occurred in some extracts. Antiestrogenic activity was observed in both phases and might also have masked the estrogenicity of samples. PCA did not resulted in positive correlations supporting a multiphase distribution pattern of estrogenic compounds. Nevertheless, the solids and organic matter characteristics supported the data interpretation. In conclusion, the in vitro YES assay is subjected to factors intrinsic to the environmental sample that can influence on the measured estrogenic response. Therefore, results interpretation should be performed together with organic matter characterization parameters, cytotoxicity and antiestrogenic activity evaluation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Allan Dos Santos Argolo
- Department of Sanitary and Environmental Engineering, Rio de Janeiro State University, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
| | - Giselle Gomes
- Department of Biology & CESAM, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal
| | - Daniele Maia Bila
- Department of Sanitary and Environmental Engineering, Rio de Janeiro State University, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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Černá T, Ezechiáš M, Semerád J, Grasserová A, Cajthaml T. Evaluation of estrogenic and antiestrogenic activity in sludge and explanation of individual compound contributions. JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS 2022; 423:127108. [PMID: 34523467 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.127108] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2021] [Revised: 08/25/2021] [Accepted: 08/30/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Mixture toxicity, including agonistic and antagonistic effects, is an unrevealed environmental problem. Estrogenic endocrine disruptors are known to cause adverse effects for aquatic biota, but causative chemicals and their contributions to the total activity in sewage sludge remain unknown. Therefore, advanced analytical methods, a yeast bioassay and mixture toxicity models were concurrently applied for the characterization of 8 selected sludges with delectable estrogenic activity (and 3 sludges with no activity as blanks) out of 25 samples from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). The first applied full logistic model adequately explained total activity by considering the concentrations of the monitored compounds. The results showed that the activity was primarily caused by natural estrogens in municipal WWTP sludge. Nevertheless, activity in a sample originating from a car-wash facility was dominantly caused by partial agonists - nonylphenols - and only a model enabling prediction of all dose-response curve parameters of the final mixture curve explained these results. Antiestrogenic effects were negligible, and effect-directed analysis identified the causative chemicals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tereza Černá
- Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Vídeňská 1083, Prague 4, Czech Republic; Institute for Environmental Studies, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Benátská 2, Prague 2, Czech Republic
| | - Martin Ezechiáš
- Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Vídeňská 1083, Prague 4, Czech Republic
| | - Jaroslav Semerád
- Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Vídeňská 1083, Prague 4, Czech Republic
| | - Alena Grasserová
- Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Vídeňská 1083, Prague 4, Czech Republic; Institute for Environmental Studies, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Benátská 2, Prague 2, Czech Republic
| | - Tomáš Cajthaml
- Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Vídeňská 1083, Prague 4, Czech Republic; Institute for Environmental Studies, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Benátská 2, Prague 2, Czech Republic.
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7
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Adjei JK, Dayie AD, Addo JK, Asamoah A, Amoako EO, Egoh BY, Bekoe E, Ofori NO, Adjei GA, Essumang DK. Occurrence, ecological risk assessment and source apportionment of pharmaceuticals, steroid hormones and xenoestrogens in the Ghanaian aquatic environments. Toxicol Rep 2022; 9:1398-1409. [DOI: 10.1016/j.toxrep.2022.06.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2022] [Revised: 06/10/2022] [Accepted: 06/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
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Dos Santos Cavaleiro RM, da Silva Arouche T, Martins Tanoue PS, Sá Pereira TS, de Carvalho Junior RN, Paranhos Costa FL, de Andrade Filho TS, Dos Santos Borges R, de Jesus Chaves Neto AM. Hormones Nanofiltration in Carbon Nanotubes and Boron Nitride Nanotubes Using Uniform External Electric Field Through Molecular Dynamics. JOURNAL OF NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY 2021; 21:5499-5509. [PMID: 33980360 DOI: 10.1166/jnn.2021.19467] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Hormones are a dangerous group of molecules that can cause harm to humans. This study based on classical molecular dynamics proposes the nanofiltration of wastewater contaminated by hormones from a computer simulation study, in which the water and the hormone were filtered in two single-walled nanotube compositions. The calculations were carried out by changing the intensities of the electric field that acted as a force exerting pressure on the filtration along the nanotube, in the simulation time of 100 ps. The hormones studied were estrone, estradiol, estriol, progesterone, ethinylestradiol, diethylbestrol, and levonorgestrel in carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and boron nitride (BNNTs). The most efficient nanofiltrations were for fields with low intensities in the order of 10-8 au and 10-7 au. The studied nanotubes can be used in membranes for nanofiltration in water treatment plants due to the evanescent field potential caused by the action of the electric field inside. Our data showed that the action of EF in conjunction with the van der Walls forces of the nanotubes is sufficient to generate the attractive potential. Evaluating the transport of water molecules in CNTs and BNNTs, under the influence of the electric field, a sequence of simulations with the same boundary conditions was carried out, seeking to know the percentage of water molecules filtered in the nanotubes.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Tiago da Silva Arouche
- Laboratory for Preparation and Computing of Nanomaterials (LPCN), Federal University of Pará, 66075-110, Belém, PA, Brazil
| | - Phelipe Seiichi Martins Tanoue
- Laboratory for Preparation and Computing of Nanomaterials (LPCN), Federal University of Pará, 66075-110, Belém, PA, Brazil
| | - Tais Souza Sá Pereira
- Laboratory for Preparation and Computing of Nanomaterials (LPCN), Federal University of Pará, 66075-110, Belém, PA, Brazil
| | | | - Fabio Luiz Paranhos Costa
- Federal University of Goiás, Campus Jataí. Rodovia BR-364, Setor Francisco Antônio, 75801615 - Jataí, GO - Brazil
| | - Tarciso Silva de Andrade Filho
- Federal University of the South and Southeast of Pará, Campus de Marabá. FL 17, QD 04, LT Especial Nova Marabá 68505080 - Maraba, PA - Brazil
| | - Rosivaldo Dos Santos Borges
- Federal University of Pará, Department of Pharmacy. Rua Augusto Correa, SN Pharmaceutical Chemistry Laboratory Guarna 66075-110 - Belem, PA - Brazil
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Feng YX, Lin YJ, Li CZ, Tian P, Trapp S, Yu XZ. Integration of RT-qPCR analysis and grey situation decision-making model for evaluating the effects of plant growth regulators on the gene expression in rice seedlings under thiocyanate exposure. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2021; 783:146805. [PMID: 33866160 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146805] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2021] [Revised: 03/23/2021] [Accepted: 03/24/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Thiocyanate (SCN-) present in irrigation water can have negative effects on plant growth and crop yields. Addition of plant growth regulators (PGRs) can alleviate toxic stress to plants. In the current study, we established a grey situation decision-making model (GSDM) to integrate the data of RT-qPCR analysis for screening the optimal addition of PGRs to minimise pollution stress. The effects of PGRs (i.e., jasmonic acid [JA], indole-3-acetic acid [IAA] and sodium hydrosulfide [NaHS]) on the abundance of IAA oxidation and conjugation-related genes in rice seedlings under potassium thiocyanate (KSCN) exposure was examined. The results obtained from RT-qPCR analysis can roughly present the mitigating effects of IAA, JA, and NaHS on rice seedlings under KSCN stress. Integration of RT-qPCR analysis and GSDM further quantified the regulatory effects of PGRs. Simulation results showed that the effect of NaHS on the gene expression at KSCN exposure is apparently better than that of JA and IAA. Our study provides a new simple, efficient, and cheap approach to identify the optimal plant growth regulators under the stress of environmental pollution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yu-Xi Feng
- College of Environmental Science & Engineering, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin 541004, People's Republic of China
| | - Yu-Juan Lin
- College of Environmental Science & Engineering, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin 541004, People's Republic of China
| | - Cheng-Zhi Li
- College of Environmental Science & Engineering, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin 541004, People's Republic of China
| | - Peng Tian
- College of Environmental Science & Engineering, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin 541004, People's Republic of China
| | - Stefan Trapp
- Department of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Bygningstorvet 115, 2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark.
| | - Xiao-Zhang Yu
- College of Environmental Science & Engineering, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin 541004, People's Republic of China.
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Islam R, Yu RMK, Andrew-Priestley M, Smith N, Rahman MM, Tran TKA, Connor WAO, MacFarlane GR. Secondary treatment phase of tertiary wastewater treatment works significantly reduces estrogenic load. WATER RESEARCH 2021; 200:117257. [PMID: 34077838 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2021.117257] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2021] [Revised: 05/10/2021] [Accepted: 05/11/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Estrogenic compounds enter waterways via effluents from wastewater treatment works (WWTW), thereby indicating a potential risk to organisms inhabiting adjacent receiving waters. However, little is known about the loads or concentrations of estrogenic compounds that enter Australian WWTWs, the efficiency of removing estrogenic compounds throughout the various stages of tertiary WWTW processes (which are common in Australia), nor the concentrations released into estuarine or marine receiving waters, and the associated risk for aquatic taxa residing in these environments. Therefore, seven estrogenic compounds, comprising the natural estrogens estrone (E1), 17β-estradiol (E2) and estriol (E3), the synthetic estrogen (EE2), and the industrial chemicals bisphenol A (BPA), 4-t-octyl phenol (4-t-OP) and 4-nonyl phenol (4-NP), in wastewater samples were quantified via liquid chromatographic-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) after solid-phase extraction at different stages of wastewater treatment and associated receiving waters. The concentrations of the target compounds in wastewater ranged from < LOQ (limit of quantification) to 158 ng/L for Tanilba Bay WWTW and < LOQ to 162 ng/L for Belmont WWTW. Most target compounds significantly declined after the secondary treatment phase. Appreciable removal efficiency throughout the treatment process was observed with removal from 39.21 to 99.98% of influent values at both WWTWs. The reduction of the natural estrogens (E1, E2 and E3) and 4-t-OP were significantly greater than EE2, BPA, and 4-NP in both WWTWs. Risk quotients (RQs) were calculated to assess potential ecological risks from individual estrogenic compounds. In predicted diluted effluents, no targeted compounds showed any ecological risk (RQ ≤1.65 × 10-2) at both WWTWs. Similarly, all RQs for shore samples at both WWTWs were below 1. Finally, the hazard index (HI), which represents combined estrogenic contaminants' ecological risk, indicated no mentionable risk for predicted diluted effluents (HI = 0.0097 to 0.0218) as well as shoreline samples (HI = 0.393 to 0.522) in the receiving estuarine or marine waters.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rafiquel Islam
- School of Environmental and Life Sciences, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia; Department of Applied Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Islamic University, Kushtia 7003, Bangladesh
| | - Richard Man Kit Yu
- School of Environmental and Life Sciences, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia
| | | | - Nathan Smith
- School of Environmental and Life Sciences, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia
| | - Mohammad Mahmudur Rahman
- Global Centre for Environmental Remediation (GCER), The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia
| | - Thi Kim Anh Tran
- School of Environmental and Life Sciences, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia; School of Agriculture and Resources, Vinh University, Viet Nam
| | - Wayne A O' Connor
- New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, Port Stephens Fisheries Institute, Taylors Beach, NSW, 2316, Australia
| | - Geoff R MacFarlane
- School of Environmental and Life Sciences, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia.
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Analysis of Estrogenic Activity in Maryland Coastal Bays Using the MCF-7 Cell Proliferation Assay. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2021; 18:ijerph18126254. [PMID: 34207818 PMCID: PMC8296043 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18126254] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2021] [Revised: 05/14/2021] [Accepted: 06/04/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Contaminants of Emerging Concern (CECs) with estrogenic or estrogenic-like activity have been increasingly detected in aquatic environments and have been an issue of global concern due to their potential negative effects on wildlife and human health. This study used the MCF-7 cell proliferation assay (E-Screen) to assess the estrogenic activity profiles in Maryland Coastal Bays (MCBs), a eutrophic system of estuaries impacted by human activities. Estrogenic activity was observed in all study sites tested. Water samples from MCBs increased MCF-7 cell proliferation above the negative control from 2.1-fold at site 8, located in Sinepuxent Bay close to the Ocean City Inlet, to 6.3-fold at site 6, located in Newport Bay. The proliferative effects of the sediment samples over the negative control ranged from 1.9-fold at the Assateague Island National Seashore site to 7.7-fold at the Public Landing site. Moreover, elevated cell proliferation (p < 0.05) was observed when cells were co-exposed with 17ß-Estradiol (E2), while reduction in cell proliferation was observed when cells were co-exposed with the antagonist ICI 182, 780 suggesting that cell proliferative effects were primarily mediated by the estrogen receptor (ER). These results suggest the occurrence of some estrogenic or hormonal-like compounds in the MCBs and are consistent with our previous findings based on vitellogenin analyses.
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12
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Ihara M, Zhang H, Ihara MO, Kato D, Tanaka H. Proposal for fluorescence-based in vitro assay using human and zebrafish monoamine transporters to detect biological activities of antidepressants in wastewater. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2021; 770:144665. [PMID: 33513512 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.144665] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2020] [Revised: 12/11/2020] [Accepted: 12/17/2020] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Antidepressants are among the most commonly detected pharmaceuticals in the aquatic environment. As they modulate neurotransmission in nervous systems, behavioural abnormalities among aquatic species are of concern. It is possible to measure the concentrations of selected antidepressants by chemical analysis, but other non-target antidepressants and active metabolites might also be present. Here, we propose an "in vitro monoamine transporter inhibition assay" to measure the biological activity of antidepressants, particularly monoamine transporter inhibitors, in wastewater. We used APP, a fluorescent substrate for monoamine transporters, to measure the activity of wastewater extracts at inhibiting APP uptake through the human serotonin transporter (hSERT), norepinephrine transporter (hNET), and dopamine transporter, and the zebrafish SERT (zSERT). We confirmed that the assay could measure the biological activity of test antidepressants. Interestingly, the IC50 values of antidepressants (the concentration that gave a 50% reduction of APP uptake) for the zSERT were smaller than those for the hSERT. For example, IC50 value of desipramine for the zSERT was 1/200 of that for the hSERT. These results indicate that antidepressants inhibited zSERT more strongly than hSERT. Then we applied the assay to extracts of effluent from municipal wastewater treatment plants and detected biological activity of antidepressants specifically against the hSERT, hNET, and zSERT for the first time. For the hSERT, antidepressant-equivalent quantities (EQs) ranged from 2.2 × 101 to 2.5 × 102 ng-clomipramine-EQ/L. For the hNET, EQs ranged from below limit of detection to 8.2 × 101 ng-desipramine-EQ/L. For the zSERT, EQs ranged from 2.8 × 102 to 3.3 × 102 ng-duloxetine-EQ/L. The in vitro monoamine transporter inhibition assay is thus useful for measuring the biological activity of antidepressants in the aquatic environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Masaru Ihara
- Research Center for Environmental Quality Management, Kyoto University, 1-2 Yumihama, Otsu, Shiga 520-0811, Japan.
| | - Han Zhang
- Research Center for Environmental Quality Management, Kyoto University, 1-2 Yumihama, Otsu, Shiga 520-0811, Japan
| | - Mariko O Ihara
- Research Center for Environmental Quality Management, Kyoto University, 1-2 Yumihama, Otsu, Shiga 520-0811, Japan
| | - Daisuke Kato
- Research Center for Environmental Quality Management, Kyoto University, 1-2 Yumihama, Otsu, Shiga 520-0811, Japan
| | - Hiroaki Tanaka
- Research Center for Environmental Quality Management, Kyoto University, 1-2 Yumihama, Otsu, Shiga 520-0811, Japan
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Schneider I, Abbas A, Bollmann A, Dombrowski A, Knopp G, Schulte-Oehlmann U, Seitz W, Wagner M, Oehlmann J. Post-treatment of ozonated wastewater with activated carbon and biofiltration compared to membrane bioreactors: Toxicity removal in vitro and in Potamopyrgus antipodarum. WATER RESEARCH 2020; 185:116104. [PMID: 33086463 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2020.116104] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/09/2020] [Revised: 06/07/2020] [Accepted: 06/22/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Wastewater treatment plants are major point sources of (micro)pollutant emissions and advanced wastewater treatment technologies can improve their removal capacity. While abundant data on individual advanced treatment technologies is available, there is limited knowledge regarding the removal performance of ozonation combined with multiple post-treatments and stand-alone membrane bioreactors. This is especially true for the removal of in vitro and in vivo toxicity. Therefore, we investigated the removal of 40 micropollutants and toxicity by a pilot-scale ozonation with four post-treatments: non-aerated and aerated granular activated carbon and biological filtration. In addition, two stand-alone membrane bioreactors fed with untreated wastewater and one MBR operating with ozonated partial flow recirculation were analysed. Aqueous and extracted samples were analysed in vitro for (anti)estrogenic, (anti)androgenic and mutagenic effects. To assess in vivo effects, the mudsnail Potamopyrgus antipodarum was exposed in an on-site flow-through system. Multiple in vitro effects were detected in conventionally treated wastewater including estrogenic and anti-androgenic activity. Ozonation largely removed these effects, while anti-estrogenic and mutagenic effects increased suggesting the formation of toxic transformation products. These effects were significantly reduced by granular activated carbon being more effective than biological filtration. The membrane bioreactor performed similarly to the conventional treatment while the membrane bioreactor with ozonation had a comparable removal performance like ozonation. Conventionally treated wastewater increased the growth of P. antipodarum. Ozonation reduced the reproduction indicating a potential formation of toxic transformation products. In the post-treatments, these effects were compensated or remained unaffected. The effluents of the membrane bioreactors induced reproductive toxicity. Our results show that ozonation is effective in further reducing toxicity and micropollutant concentrations. However, the formation of toxicity requires a post-treatment. Here, ozonation coupled to granular activated carbon filtration seemed the most promising treatment process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ilona Schneider
- Department Aquatic Ecotoxicology, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Max-von Laue-Straße 13, D-60438, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
| | - Aennes Abbas
- Department Aquatic Ecotoxicology, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Max-von Laue-Straße 13, D-60438, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Anna Bollmann
- Zweckverband Landeswasserversorgung, Am Spitzigen Berg 1, D-89129, Langenau, Germany
| | - Andrea Dombrowski
- Department Aquatic Ecotoxicology, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Max-von Laue-Straße 13, D-60438, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Gregor Knopp
- Department of Wastewater Technology and Water Reuse, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Franziska-Braun-Str. 7, D-64287, Darmstadt, Germany
| | - Ulrike Schulte-Oehlmann
- Department Aquatic Ecotoxicology, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Max-von Laue-Straße 13, D-60438, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Wolfram Seitz
- Zweckverband Landeswasserversorgung, Am Spitzigen Berg 1, D-89129, Langenau, Germany
| | - Martin Wagner
- Department Aquatic Ecotoxicology, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Max-von Laue-Straße 13, D-60438, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Jörg Oehlmann
- Department Aquatic Ecotoxicology, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Max-von Laue-Straße 13, D-60438, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
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Zhang H, Lin Y, Men Z, Ihara M, Li W, He K. Evaluation of pharmaceutical activities of G-protein coupled receptor targeted pharmaceuticals in Chinese wastewater effluent. CHINESE CHEM LETT 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cclet.2020.08.040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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15
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He X, Qi Z, Gao J, Huang K, Li M, Springael D, Zhang XX. Nonylphenol ethoxylates biodegradation increases estrogenicity of textile wastewater in biological treatment systems. WATER RESEARCH 2020; 184:116137. [PMID: 32750586 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2020.116137] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2020] [Revised: 06/16/2020] [Accepted: 06/30/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
The formation of estrogenic intermediates, i.e. nonylphenol diethoxylate (NP2EO), nonylphenol monoethoxylate (NP1EO), and nonylphenol (NP), following nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEOs) biodegradation in textile wastewater raises concerns about its endocrine disruptive activity, but the estrogenicity changes of textile wastewater throughout biological treatment processes remain unknown. In the present study, the estrogenicity of textile wastewater sampled from 10 wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) were investigated using the reporter gene-based T47D-KBluc bioassay. Results showed that the estrogenicity of the textile wastewater significantly increased after either anaerobic or aerobic treatment in all WWTPs, with an average fold change of 3.21, although traditional pollutants were effectively removed. The estradiol equivalents of the effluent (ranging from 1.50 to 4.12 ng-E2/L) were generally higher than published effect based trigger values, indicating an increased risk for the receiving waters. Removal efficiency was high (84.46%) for NPEOs, but was low for NP2EO and NP1EO in the biological treatment processes. Nevertheless, NP had increased concentrations after the treatment. Bioanalytical equivalent concentration of the textile wastewater and that of NP2EO, NP1EO, and NP showed a good linear correlation, of which NP alone contributed more than 70% to the observed estrogenicity. Extending hydraulic retention time was found effective in reducing the estrogenicity as it allows relatively complete degradation of NP, which was further confirmed by running lab-scale A/O reactors fed with NP10EO. The results may extend our knowledge regarding the estrogenicity of textile wastewater and its reduction technologies used in WWTPs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiwei He
- State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, China
| | - Zhaodong Qi
- State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, China
| | - Jie Gao
- State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, China
| | - Kailong Huang
- State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, China; Collaborative Innovation Center of Atmospheric Environment and Equipment Technology, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Environment Monitoring and Pollution Control (AEMPC), School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing, 210044, China
| | - Mei Li
- State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, China
| | - Dirk Springael
- Division of Soil and Water Management, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, KU Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 20, BE-3001, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Xu-Xiang Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, China.
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Serra H, Brion F, Chardon C, Budzinski H, Schulze T, Brack W, Aït-Aïssa S. Estrogenic activity of surface waters using zebrafish- and human-based in vitro assays: The Danube as a case-study. ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY AND PHARMACOLOGY 2020; 78:103401. [PMID: 32417722 DOI: 10.1016/j.etap.2020.103401] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2020] [Revised: 04/18/2020] [Accepted: 04/22/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Most in vitro reporter gene assays used to assess estrogenic contamination are based on human estrogen receptor α (hERα) activation. However, fish bioassays can have distinct response to estrogenic chemicals and mixtures, questioning the relevance of human-based bioassays for assessing risk to this species. In this study, zebrafish liver cells stably expressing zebrafish ERβ2 (ZELHβ2) and human breast cancer cells expressing hERα (MELN) were used to quantify the estrogenic activity of 25 surface water samples of the Danube River, for which chemicals have been previously quantified. Most samples had a low estrogenic activity below 0.1 ng/L 17β-estradiol-equivalents that was more often detected by MELN cells, while ZELHβ2 response tend to be lower than predicted based on the chemicals identified. Nevertheless, both bioassays quantified well a higher estrogenic activity at two sites, which was confirmed in vivo using a transgenic zebrafish assay. The results are discussed considering the effect-based trigger values proposed for water quality monitoring.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hélène Serra
- Unité Ecotoxicologie in vitro et in vivo, UMR-I 02 SEBIO, Institut National de l'Environnement Industriel et des Risques (INERIS), Verneuil-en-Halatte, France; UMR-CNRS EPOC/LPTC, Université de Bordeaux, Talence, France
| | - François Brion
- Unité Ecotoxicologie in vitro et in vivo, UMR-I 02 SEBIO, Institut National de l'Environnement Industriel et des Risques (INERIS), Verneuil-en-Halatte, France
| | - Clémence Chardon
- Unité Ecotoxicologie in vitro et in vivo, UMR-I 02 SEBIO, Institut National de l'Environnement Industriel et des Risques (INERIS), Verneuil-en-Halatte, France
| | | | - Tobias Schulze
- UFZ, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Werner Brack
- UFZ, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Leipzig, Germany; RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | - Selim Aït-Aïssa
- Unité Ecotoxicologie in vitro et in vivo, UMR-I 02 SEBIO, Institut National de l'Environnement Industriel et des Risques (INERIS), Verneuil-en-Halatte, France.
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Aziz M, Ojumu T. Exclusion of Estrogenic and Androgenic Steroid Hormones from Municipal Membrane Bioreactor Wastewater Using UF/NF/RO Membranes for Water Reuse Application. MEMBRANES 2020; 10:membranes10030037. [PMID: 32120927 PMCID: PMC7143240 DOI: 10.3390/membranes10030037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2019] [Revised: 02/18/2020] [Accepted: 02/20/2020] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
In the context of water scarcity, domestic secondary effluent reuse may be an option as a reliable source for alleviating acute water shortage. The increasing risks linked with the presence of natural steroid hormones and many emerging anthropogenic micropollutants (MPs) passing through municipal wastewater treatment works (MWWTWs) are of concern for their endocrine-disrupting activities. In this study, domestic wastewater treated by a full-scale membrane bioreactor (MBR) at an MWWTW in the Western Cape Province, South Africa, was used directly as the influent to a reverse osmosis (RO) pilot plant for the removal of selected natural steroid hormones 17β-estradiol (E2) and testosterone (T) as a potential indirect water recycling application. Estrogenicity and androgenicity were assessed using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) and the recombinant yeast estrogen receptor binding assays (YES). The influent pH and flux did not influence the rejection of E2 and T, which was most likely due to adsorption, size exclusion, and diffusion simultaneously. RO and nanofiltration (NF) exhibited excellent removal rates (>95%) for E2 and T. All the E2 effluent samples with MBR/ultrafiltration (UF), MBR/NF, and MBR/RO were lower than the US EPA and WHO trigger value of 0.7 ng/L, as well as the predicted no-effect concentration (PNEC) values for fish (1 ng E2/L).
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18
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Zhang J, Liu ZH, Zhong SS, Wang H, Caidan B, Yin H, Dang Z. Strategy for effective inhibition of arylsulfatase/β-glucuronidase to prevent deconjugation of sulfate and glucuronide conjugates in wastewater during sample collection and storage. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2020; 703:135536. [PMID: 31759726 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.135536] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2019] [Revised: 10/22/2019] [Accepted: 11/13/2019] [Indexed: 05/20/2023]
Abstract
Arylsulfatase and β-glucuronidase are two important enzymes that are responsible for deconjugation of estrogen conjugates. It is important to keep estrogen conjugates intact during sample collection and storage, while the effective inhibition conditions for arylsulfatase and β-glucuronidase remain unknown. To elucidate these conditions, inhibition experiments were performed by adding several inhibitors or by introducing extreme pH conditions. This work confirms that arylsulfatase and β-glucuronidase can tolerate some extremes, including high concentrations of mercury dichloride, ethanol, and EDTA, while low pH (<3) or high pH (>11) can effectively inhibit their activities. The high tolerance of arylsulfatase and β-glucuronidase for mercury dichloride explains why estrogen conjugates in wastewater samples were deconjugated, even in the extremely unfavorable condition with a high concentration of mercury dichloride. Although low pH (<3) can effectively inhibit arylsulfatase/β-glucuronidase, deconjugation of sulfate conjugates by acid hydrolysis readily occurs; thus, a high pH of 11 is an appropriate storage condition for the effective inhibition of arylsulfatase/β-glucuronidase. This appropriate storage condition was confirmed and validated with diluted and sterilized activated sludge samples in which arylsulfatase/β-glucuronidase inhibition was effective for 48 h at room temperature and with a high pH of 11. The developed appropriate storage condition for effective inhibition of arylsulfatase/β-glucuronidase has wide application potential not only for estrogen conjugates but also for all conjugates of other organic micropollutants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jun Zhang
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, Guangdong, China
| | - Ze-Hua Liu
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, Guangdong, China; Key Lab Pollution Control & Ecosystem Restoration in Industry Cluster, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou 510006, Guangdong, China; Guangdong Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Solid Waste Treatment and Recycling, Guangzhou 510006, Guangdong, China; Guangdong Provincial Engineering and Technology Research Center for Environment Risk Prevention and Emergency Disposal, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, Guangdong, China.
| | - Shu-Shu Zhong
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, Guangdong, China
| | - Hao Wang
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, Guangdong, China
| | - Bamu Caidan
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, Guangdong, China
| | - Hua Yin
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, Guangdong, China
| | - Zhi Dang
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, Guangdong, China
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Hashmi MAK, Krauss M, Escher BI, Teodorovic I, Brack W. Effect-Directed Analysis of Progestogens and Glucocorticoids at Trace Concentrations in River Water. ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY AND CHEMISTRY 2020; 39:189-199. [PMID: 31614391 DOI: 10.1002/etc.4609] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2019] [Revised: 09/18/2019] [Accepted: 10/01/2019] [Indexed: 05/07/2023]
Abstract
Effect-based monitoring is increasingly applied to detect and-in conjunction with chemical analysis-to identify endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs) in the environment. Although this approach of effect-directed analysis has been successfully demonstrated for estrogenicity and androgenicity, data on progestogens and glucocorticoids driving endocrine disruption are quite limited. We investigated progestogenic and glucocorticoid activities in Danube River water receiving untreated wastewater from Novi Sad, Serbia. After a 2-step fractionation, all fractions were tested with reporter gene bioassays for agonistic and antagonistic hormonal responses at progestogenic and glucocorticoid hormone receptors as well as with target and nontarget analytical screening of active fractions by liquid chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry. Due to masking by cytotoxic mixture components, the effects could not be detected in the raw water extract but were unraveled only after fractionation. Target chemical screening of the fraction that was active in the progesterone receptor (PR) assay revealed that progesterone and megestrol acetate were predominant drivers of PR-mediated activity along with medroxyprogesterone, dihydrotestosterone, androsterone, and epiandrosterone. Hydrocortisone was detected at sub-ng/L concentration in the active fraction in the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) assay but could not explain a significant fraction of the observed GR activity. The present study indicates that effect-based monitoring is a powerful tool to detect EDCs in the aquatic environment but that fractionation may be required to avoid masking effects of mixture components. Future effect-directed analysis studies are required to better understand the occurrence of EDCs and masking compounds in different lipophilicity windows, to finally reduce fractionation requirements for monitoring to a smart clean-up. Environ Toxicol Chem 2019;39:189-199. © 2019 The Authors. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of SETAC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Muhammad Arslan Kamal Hashmi
- Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Ecosystem Analysis, Institute for Environmental Research (Biology V), RWTH Aachen University Aachen, Germany
| | - Martin Krauss
- Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Beate I Escher
- Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ, Leipzig, Germany
- Environmental Toxicology, Center for Applied Geoscience, Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | | | - Werner Brack
- Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Ecosystem Analysis, Institute for Environmental Research (Biology V), RWTH Aachen University Aachen, Germany
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Völker J, Stapf M, Miehe U, Wagner M. Systematic Review of Toxicity Removal by Advanced Wastewater Treatment Technologies via Ozonation and Activated Carbon. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2019; 53:7215-7233. [PMID: 31120742 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.9b00570] [Citation(s) in RCA: 76] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/09/2023]
Abstract
Upgrading wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) with advanced technologies is one key strategy to reduce micropollutant emissions. Given the complex chemical composition of wastewater, toxicity removal is an integral parameter to assess the performance of WWTPs. Thus, the goal of this systematic review is to evaluate how effectively ozonation and activated carbon remove in vitro and in vivo toxicity. Out of 2464 publications, we extracted 46 relevant studies conducted at 22 pilot or full-scale WWTPs. We performed a quantitative and qualitative evaluation of in vitro (100 assays) and in vivo data (20 species), respectively. Data is more abundant on ozonation (573 data points) than on an activated carbon treatment (162 data points), and certain in vitro end points (especially estrogenicity) and in vivo models (e.g., daphnids) dominate. The literature shows that while a conventional treatment effectively reduces toxicity, residual effects in the effluents may represent a risk to the receiving ecosystem on the basis of effect-based trigger values. In general, an upgrade to ozonation or activated carbon treatment will significantly increase toxicity removal with similar performance. Nevertheless, ozonation generates toxic transformation products that can be removed by a post-treatment. By assessing the growing body of effect-based studies, we identify sensitive and underrepresented end points and species and provide guidance for future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johannes Völker
- Department of Biology , Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) , Trondheim 7491 , Norway
| | - Michael Stapf
- Berlin Centre of Competence for Water (KWB) , Berlin 10709 , Germany
| | - Ulf Miehe
- Berlin Centre of Competence for Water (KWB) , Berlin 10709 , Germany
| | - Martin Wagner
- Department of Biology , Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) , Trondheim 7491 , Norway
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21
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Serra H, Scholze M, Altenburger R, Busch W, Budzinski H, Brion F, Aït-Aïssa S. Combined effects of environmental xeno-estrogens within multi-component mixtures: Comparison of in vitro human- and zebrafish-based estrogenicity bioassays. CHEMOSPHERE 2019; 227:334-344. [PMID: 30999174 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.04.060] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2019] [Revised: 04/07/2019] [Accepted: 04/08/2019] [Indexed: 05/15/2023]
Abstract
Some recent studies showed that in vitro bioassays based on fish or human estrogen receptor (ER) activation may have distinct responses to environmental samples, highlighting the need to better understand bioassay-specific ER response to environmental mixtures. For this purpose, we investigated a 12-compound mixture in two mixture ratios (M1 and M2) on zebrafish (zf) liver cells stably expressing zfERα (ZELHα cells) or zfERβ2 (ZELHβ2 cells) and on human ER-reporter gene (MELN) cells. The mixture included the well-known ER ligands bisphenol A (BPA) and genistein (GEN), and other compounds representatives of a freshwater background contamination. In this context, the study aimed at assessing the robustness of concentration addition (CA) model and the potential confounding influence of other chemicals by testing subgroups of ER activators, ER inhibitors or ER activators and inhibitors combined. Individual chemical testing showed a higher prevalence of ER inhibitors in zebrafish than human cells (e.g. propiconazole), and some chemicals inhibited zfER but activated hER response (e.g. benzo(a)pyrene, triphenylphosphate). The estrogenic activity of M1 and M2 was well predicted by CA in MELN cells, whereas it was significantly lower than predicted in ZELHβ2 cells, contrasting with the additive effects observed for BPA and GEN binary mixtures. When testing the subgroups of ER activators and inhibitors combined, the deviation from additivity in ZELHβ2 cells was caused by zebrafish-specific inhibiting chemicals. This study provides novel information on the ability of environmental pollutants to interfere with zfER signalling and shows that non-estrogenic chemicals can influence the response to a mixture of xeno-estrogens in a bioassay-specific manner.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hélène Serra
- Institut National de l'Environnement Industriel et des risques (INERIS), Unité Ecotoxicologie in vitro et in vivo, UMR-I 02 SEBIO, 60550, Verneuil-en-Halatte, France; UMR-CNRS EPOC/LPTC, Université de Bordeaux, Talence, France
| | | | - Rolf Altenburger
- UFZ- Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Wibke Busch
- UFZ- Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Leipzig, Germany
| | | | - François Brion
- Institut National de l'Environnement Industriel et des risques (INERIS), Unité Ecotoxicologie in vitro et in vivo, UMR-I 02 SEBIO, 60550, Verneuil-en-Halatte, France
| | - Selim Aït-Aïssa
- Institut National de l'Environnement Industriel et des risques (INERIS), Unité Ecotoxicologie in vitro et in vivo, UMR-I 02 SEBIO, 60550, Verneuil-en-Halatte, France.
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Pannekens H, Gottschlich A, Hollert H, Dopp E. Evaluation of mixture effects of endocrine active substances in wastewater using CALUX reporter-gene assays. Int J Hyg Environ Health 2019; 222:670-677. [PMID: 31129136 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijheh.2019.04.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2018] [Revised: 03/31/2019] [Accepted: 04/18/2019] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Endocrine active substances (EAS), which are commonly used in pharmaceuticals and personal care products, are released into surface water mainly through WWTP effluents and have been shown to cause adverse effects in aquatic organisms. In wastewater, a variety of EAS with different hormonal activities is present, which can lead to additive effects or mask an endocrine activity. To investigate hormonal combination effects, with a focus on estrogen and androgen-modulators, influent samples from municipal and hospital wastewater treatmenr plants were spiked with 17α-ethinylestradiol, toremifene, 17α-methyltestosterone and bicalutamide and analyzed using in vitro reporter gene CALUX assays. All wastewaters caused endocrine activities in human cells, which were modified by adding one or several endocrine active substances. As expected, estrogenic activity was reduced in presence of the anti-estrogenic toremifene and androgenic activity decreased with the anti-androgen bicalutamide. In general, substance addition caused a similar trend in altered endocrine activities; however, their intensities differed between the wastewaters. Our results indicate that masking effects, leading to a suppressed biological signal, are of significant importance in the assessment of complex water samples, and combination effects rather than single substances determine the final biological effect. This emphasizes the need of effect-based tools in the assessment of water samples.
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Affiliation(s)
- Helena Pannekens
- IWW Water Centre, Moritzstr. 26, 45476, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany.
| | - Anne Gottschlich
- IWW Water Centre, Moritzstr. 26, 45476, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany
| | - Henner Hollert
- RWTH Aachen University, Institute for Environmental Research (Biology V), Worringerweg 1, 52074, Aachen, Germany
| | - Elke Dopp
- IWW Water Centre, Moritzstr. 26, 45476, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany; University of Duisburg-Essen, Centre for Water and Environmental Research, Universitätsstr. 2, 45141, Essen, Germany
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Dopp E, Pannekens H, Itzel F, Tuerk J. Effect-based methods in combination with state-of-the-art chemical analysis for assessment of water quality as integrated approach. Int J Hyg Environ Health 2019; 222:607-614. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ijheh.2019.03.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2019] [Revised: 03/05/2019] [Accepted: 03/05/2019] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
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24
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Abbas A, Schneider I, Bollmann A, Funke J, Oehlmann J, Prasse C, Schulte-Oehlmann U, Seitz W, Ternes T, Weber M, Wesely H, Wagner M. What you extract is what you see: Optimising the preparation of water and wastewater samples for in vitro bioassays. WATER RESEARCH 2019; 152:47-60. [PMID: 30660097 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2018.12.049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2018] [Revised: 12/19/2018] [Accepted: 12/21/2018] [Indexed: 05/25/2023]
Abstract
The assessment of water quality is crucial for safeguarding drinking water resources and ecosystem integrity. To this end, sample preparation and extraction is critically important, especially when investigating emerging contaminants and the toxicity of water samples. As extraction methods are rarely optimised for bioassays but rather adopted from chemical analysis, this may result in a misrepresentation of the actual toxicity. In this study, surface water, groundwater, hospital and municipal wastewater were used to characterise the impacts of common sample preparation techniques (acidification, filtration and solid phase extraction (SPE)) on the outcomes of eleven in vitro bioassays. The latter covered endocrine activity (reporter gene assays for estrogen, androgen, aryl-hydrocarbon, retinoic acid, retinoid X, vitamin D, thyroid receptor), mutagenicity (Ames fluctuation test), genotoxicity (umu test) and cytotoxicity. Water samples extracted using different SPE sorbents (Oasis HLB, Supelco ENVI-Carb+, Telos C18/ENV) at acidic and neutral pH were compared for their performance in recovering biological effects. Acidification, commonly used for stabilisation, significantly altered the endocrine activity and toxicity of most (waste)water samples. Sample filtration did not affect the majority of endpoints but in certain cases affected the (anti-)estrogenic and dioxin-like activities. SPE extracts (10.4 × final concentration), including WWTP effluents, induced significant endocrine effects that were not detected in aqueous samples (0.63 × final concentration), such as estrogenic, (anti-)androgenic and dioxin-like activities. When ranking the SPE methods using multivariate Pareto optimisation an extraction with Telos C18/ENV at pH 7 was most effective in recovering toxicity. At the same time, these extracts were highly cytotoxic masking the endpoint under investigation. Compared to that, extraction at pH 2.5 enriched less cytotoxicity. In summary, our study demonstrates that sample preparation and extraction critically affect the outcome of bioassays when assessing the toxicity of water samples. Depending on the water matrix and the bioassay, these methods need to be optimised to accurately assess water quality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aennes Abbas
- Department Aquatic Ecotoxicology, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Max-von-Laue-Str. 13, D-60438, Frankfurt, Germany.
| | - Ilona Schneider
- Department Aquatic Ecotoxicology, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Max-von-Laue-Str. 13, D-60438, Frankfurt, Germany.
| | - Anna Bollmann
- Zweckverband Landeswasserversorgung, Am Spitzigen Berg 1, D-89129, Langenau, Germany
| | - Jan Funke
- IWW Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wasser Beratungs- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH, Moritzstraße 26, D-45476, Muelheim an der Ruhr, Germany
| | - Jörg Oehlmann
- Department Aquatic Ecotoxicology, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Max-von-Laue-Str. 13, D-60438, Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Carsten Prasse
- Department of Environmental Health and Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 21218, USA
| | - Ulrike Schulte-Oehlmann
- Department Aquatic Ecotoxicology, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Max-von-Laue-Str. 13, D-60438, Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Wolfram Seitz
- Zweckverband Landeswasserversorgung, Am Spitzigen Berg 1, D-89129, Langenau, Germany
| | - Thomas Ternes
- Federal Institute of Hydrology (BfG), Am Mainzer Tor 1, D-56068, Koblenz, Germany
| | - Marcus Weber
- Department of Numerical Analysis and Modelling, Konrad-Zuse-Zentrum für Informationstechnik Berlin (ZIB), Takustraße 7, D-14195, Berlin, Germany
| | - Henning Wesely
- Federal Institute of Hydrology (BfG), Am Mainzer Tor 1, D-56068, Koblenz, Germany
| | - Martin Wagner
- Department Aquatic Ecotoxicology, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Max-von-Laue-Str. 13, D-60438, Frankfurt, Germany; Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NO-7491, Trondheim, Norway
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25
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Jia Y, Hammers-Wirtz M, Crawford SE, Chen Q, Seiler TB, Schäffer A, Hollert H. Effect-based and chemical analyses of agonistic and antagonistic endocrine disruptors in multiple matrices of eutrophic freshwaters. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2019; 651:1096-1104. [PMID: 30266054 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.09.199] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2018] [Revised: 09/08/2018] [Accepted: 09/16/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
In the present study, both bioanalytical and instrumental tools were employed to examine the endocrine-disruptive potentials of water samples, cyanobloom samples, and sediment samples collected from in the northern region of Taihu Lake (China) during cyanobloom season. Results from cell-based bioassays suggested the occurrence of estrogenic, anti-estrogenic, anti-androgenic, and anti-glucocorticogenic activities, while no androgenic and glucocorticogenic activities were observed in the collected samples. Using an UPLC-MS/MS system, 29 endocrine disrupting compounds including seven estrogens, seven androgens, six progestogens, and five adrenocortical hormones and four industrial pollutants were simultaneously detected. 17, 20 and 12 chemicals were detected at least in one of the water samples, cyanobloom samples and sediment samples, respectively. Since both agonistic and antagonistic endocrine-disruptive activities were detected in the present study, commonly used receptor-based in vitro bioassays resulted in net effects, suggesting that the hormone receptor agonistic potentials might be underestimated with this practice. The EDCs detected in cyanobloom samples also highlight the necessity to consider the phytoplankton matrix for understanding the mass fluxes of endocrine disruptors in eutrophic freshwaters and to consider it in monitoring strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yunlu Jia
- RWTH Aachen University, Institute for Environmental Research, Department of Ecosystem Analysis, Aachen, Germany.
| | - Monika Hammers-Wirtz
- Research Institute for Ecosystem Analysis and Assessment - gaiac, Aachen, Germany
| | - Sarah E Crawford
- RWTH Aachen University, Institute for Environmental Research, Department of Ecosystem Analysis, Aachen, Germany
| | - Qiqing Chen
- RWTH Aachen University, Institute for Environmental Research, Department of Ecosystem Analysis, Aachen, Germany
| | - Thomas-Benjamin Seiler
- RWTH Aachen University, Institute for Environmental Research, Department of Ecosystem Analysis, Aachen, Germany
| | - Andreas Schäffer
- Chair of Environmental Biology and Chemodynamics, Institute for Environmental Research, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany; Nanjing University, State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing, China
| | - Henner Hollert
- RWTH Aachen University, Institute for Environmental Research, Department of Ecosystem Analysis, Aachen, Germany; Research Institute for Ecosystem Analysis and Assessment - gaiac, Aachen, Germany; Tongji University, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, Shanghai, China; Nanjing University, State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing, China.
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26
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Jia Y, Chen Q, Crawford SE, Song L, Chen W, Hammers-Wirtz M, Strauss T, Seiler TB, Schäffer A, Hollert H. Cyanobacterial blooms act as sink and source of endocrine disruptors in the third largest freshwater lake in China. ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION (BARKING, ESSEX : 1987) 2019; 245:408-418. [PMID: 30453139 DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2018.11.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2018] [Revised: 11/06/2018] [Accepted: 11/07/2018] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Cyanobacterial blooms are of global concern due to the multiple harmful risks they pose towards aquatic ecosystem and human health. However, information on the fate of organic pollutants mediated by cyanobacterial blooms in eutrophic water remains elusive. In the present study, endocrine disruptive potentials of phytoplankton samples were evaluated throughout a year-long surveillance in a large and eutrophic freshwater lake. Severe cyanobacterial blooms persisted during our sampling campaigns. Estrogenic agonistic, anti-estrogenic, anti-androgenic, and anti-glucocorticogenic effects were observed in the phytoplankton samples using in vitro reporter gene bioassays. 27 endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) of different modes of action were detected in the samples via UPLC-MS/MS system. Results from mass balance analysis indicated that the measured estrogenic activities were greater than the predicted estrogenic potencies from chemical analysis, demonstrating that chemical analysis of targeted EDCs is unable to fully explain the compounds responsible for the observed estrogenicities. Results from Spearman's correlation analysis concluded that the concentrations of ten EDCs in phytoplankton samples were negatively correlated with cyanobacterial biomass, suggesting the potential occurrence of biomass bio-dilution effects of EDCs due to the huge biomass of cyanobacteria during bloom seasons. The present study provided complementary information about the potential endocrine disruptive risks of cyanobacterial blooms, which is important for understanding and regulating EDCs in eutrophic lakes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yunlu Jia
- RWTH Aachen University, Institute for Environmental Research, Department of Ecosystem Analysis, Aachen, Germany.
| | - Qiqing Chen
- RWTH Aachen University, Institute for Environmental Research, Department of Ecosystem Analysis, Aachen, Germany; State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Sarah E Crawford
- RWTH Aachen University, Institute for Environmental Research, Department of Ecosystem Analysis, Aachen, Germany
| | - Lirong Song
- Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China
| | - Wei Chen
- Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China
| | - Monika Hammers-Wirtz
- Research Institute for Ecosystem Analysis and Assessment, Gaiac, Aachen, Germany
| | - Tido Strauss
- Research Institute for Ecosystem Analysis and Assessment, Gaiac, Aachen, Germany
| | - Thomas-Benjamin Seiler
- RWTH Aachen University, Institute for Environmental Research, Department of Ecosystem Analysis, Aachen, Germany
| | - Andreas Schäffer
- Chair of Environmental Biology and Chemodynamics, Institute for Environmental Research, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany; Nanjing University, State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing, China
| | - Henner Hollert
- RWTH Aachen University, Institute for Environmental Research, Department of Ecosystem Analysis, Aachen, Germany; Nanjing University, State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing, China; Tongji University, College of Environmental Science and Engineering and State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, Shanghai, China
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27
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Šauer P, Bořík A, Golovko O, Grabic R, Staňová AV, Valentová O, Stará A, Šandová M, Kocour Kroupová H. Do progestins contribute to (anti-)androgenic activities in aquatic environments? ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION (BARKING, ESSEX : 1987) 2018; 242:417-425. [PMID: 29990947 DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2018.06.104] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2018] [Revised: 06/28/2018] [Accepted: 06/30/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Unknown compounds with (anti-)androgenic activities enter the aquatic environment via municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Progestins are well-known environmental contaminants capable of interfering with androgen receptor (AR) signaling pathway. The aim of the present study was to determine if 15 selected progestins have potential to contribute to (anti-)androgenic activities in municipal wastewaters and the respective recipient surface waters. AR-specific Chemically Activated LUciferase gene eXpression bioassay in agonistic (AR-CALUX) and antagonistic (anti-AR-CALUX) modes and liquid chromatography tandem atmospheric pressure chemical ionization/atmospheric photoionization with hybrid quadrupole/orbital trap mass spectrometry operated in high resolution product scan mode (LC-APCI/APPI-HRPS) methods were used to assess (anti-)androgenic activity and to detect the target compounds, respectively. The contribution of progestins to (anti-)androgenic activities was evaluated by means of a biologically and chemically derived toxicity equivalent approach. Androgenic (0.08-59 ng/L dihydrotestosterone equivalents - DHT EQs) and anti-androgenic (2.4-26 μg/L flutamide equivalents - FLU EQs) activities and progestins (0.19-75 ng/L) were detected in selected aquatic environments. Progestins displayed androgenic potencies (0.01-0.22 fold of dihydrotestosterone) and strong anti-androgenic potencies (9-62 fold of flutamide). Although they accounted to some extent for androgenic (0.3-29%) and anti-androgenic (4.6-27%) activities in influents, the progestins' contribution to (anti-)androgenic activities was negligible (≤2.1%) in effluents and surface waters. We also tested joint effect of equimolar mixtures of target compounds and the results indicate that compounds interact in an additive manner. Even if progestins possess relatively strong (anti-)androgenic activities, when considering their low concentrations (sub-ng/L to ng/L) it seems unlikely that they would be the drivers of (anti-)androgenic effects in Czech aquatic environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pavel Šauer
- University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters, South Bohemian Research Center of Aquaculture and Biodiversity of Hydrocenoses, Research Institute of Fish Culture and Hydrocenoses, Zátiší 728/II, 389 25 Vodňany, Czech Republic.
| | - Adam Bořík
- University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters, South Bohemian Research Center of Aquaculture and Biodiversity of Hydrocenoses, Research Institute of Fish Culture and Hydrocenoses, Zátiší 728/II, 389 25 Vodňany, Czech Republic
| | - Oksana Golovko
- University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters, South Bohemian Research Center of Aquaculture and Biodiversity of Hydrocenoses, Research Institute of Fish Culture and Hydrocenoses, Zátiší 728/II, 389 25 Vodňany, Czech Republic
| | - Roman Grabic
- University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters, South Bohemian Research Center of Aquaculture and Biodiversity of Hydrocenoses, Research Institute of Fish Culture and Hydrocenoses, Zátiší 728/II, 389 25 Vodňany, Czech Republic
| | - Andrea Vojs Staňová
- University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters, South Bohemian Research Center of Aquaculture and Biodiversity of Hydrocenoses, Research Institute of Fish Culture and Hydrocenoses, Zátiší 728/II, 389 25 Vodňany, Czech Republic
| | - Olga Valentová
- University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters, South Bohemian Research Center of Aquaculture and Biodiversity of Hydrocenoses, Research Institute of Fish Culture and Hydrocenoses, Zátiší 728/II, 389 25 Vodňany, Czech Republic
| | - Alžběta Stará
- University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters, South Bohemian Research Center of Aquaculture and Biodiversity of Hydrocenoses, Research Institute of Fish Culture and Hydrocenoses, Zátiší 728/II, 389 25 Vodňany, Czech Republic
| | - Marie Šandová
- University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters, South Bohemian Research Center of Aquaculture and Biodiversity of Hydrocenoses, Research Institute of Fish Culture and Hydrocenoses, Zátiší 728/II, 389 25 Vodňany, Czech Republic
| | - Hana Kocour Kroupová
- University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters, South Bohemian Research Center of Aquaculture and Biodiversity of Hydrocenoses, Research Institute of Fish Culture and Hydrocenoses, Zátiší 728/II, 389 25 Vodňany, Czech Republic
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28
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Zhang H, Ihara M, Hanamoto S, Nakada N, Jürgens MD, Johnson AC, Tanaka H. Quantification of Pharmaceutical Related Biological Activity in Effluents from Wastewater Treatment Plants in UK and Japan. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2018; 52:11848-11856. [PMID: 30216714 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.8b03013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
While pharmaceuticals are now routinely detected in aquatic environments, we know little of the biological activity their presence might provoke. It is estimated that nearly 40% of all marketed pharmaceuticals are G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) acting pharmaceuticals. Here, we applied an in-vitro assay, called the TGFα shedding assay, to measure the biological activities of GPCRs-acting pharmaceuticals present in effluents from municipal wastewater treatment plants in the United Kingdom (UK) and Japan from 2014 to 2016. The results indicated that compounds were present in the wastewater with antagonistic activities against angiotensin (AT1), dopamine (D2), adrenergic (β1), acetylcholine (M1), and histamine (H1) receptors in both countries. The most consistent and powerful antagonistic activity was against the H1, D2, and AT1 receptors at up to microgram-antagonist-equivalent quantity/L. Chemical analysis of the same UK samples was also conducted in parallel. Comparing the results of the bioassay with the chemical analysis indicated (1) the existence of other D2 or M1 receptor antagonists besides sulpiride (D2 antagonist) or pirenzepine (M1 antagonist) in wastewater and (2) that there might be a mixture effect between agonist and antagonistic activities against β1 receptor. GPCR-acting pharmaceuticals should be paid more attention in the environmental monitoring and toxicity testing in future studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Han Zhang
- Research Center for Environmental Quality Management , Kyoto University , 1-2 Yumihama , Otsu , Shiga 520-0811 , Japan
| | - Masaru Ihara
- Research Center for Environmental Quality Management , Kyoto University , 1-2 Yumihama , Otsu , Shiga 520-0811 , Japan
| | - Seiya Hanamoto
- Research Center for Environmental Quality Management , Kyoto University , 1-2 Yumihama , Otsu , Shiga 520-0811 , Japan
| | - Norihide Nakada
- Research Center for Environmental Quality Management , Kyoto University , 1-2 Yumihama , Otsu , Shiga 520-0811 , Japan
| | - Monika D Jürgens
- Centre for Ecology and Hydrology , Wallingford, Oxfordshire , OX10 8BB , United Kingdom
| | - Andrew C Johnson
- Centre for Ecology and Hydrology , Wallingford, Oxfordshire , OX10 8BB , United Kingdom
| | - Hiroaki Tanaka
- Research Center for Environmental Quality Management , Kyoto University , 1-2 Yumihama , Otsu , Shiga 520-0811 , Japan
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29
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Šauer P, Stará A, Golovko O, Valentová O, Bořík A, Grabic R, Kroupová HK. Two synthetic progestins and natural progesterone are responsible for most of the progestagenic activities in municipal wastewater treatment plant effluents in the Czech and Slovak republics. WATER RESEARCH 2018; 137:64-71. [PMID: 29544204 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2018.02.065] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2017] [Revised: 01/18/2018] [Accepted: 02/28/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Vast numbers of xenobiotics are known still to be present in treated municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluents. Some of these possess endocrine-disrupting potency and pose risks for exposed aquatic animals. We searched for 17 potential environmental contaminants having affinity to the progesterone receptor. Relative potency values of these progesterone receptor-active chemicals were obtained. On the basis of relative potencies and measured environmental concentrations, the contribution of progestins to measured progestagenic activities was evaluated. Wastewaters (influent and effluent) and surrounding surface waters (upstream and downstream) at six municipal WWTPs were screened using instrumental chemical analysis and in vitro reporter gene bioassay. We showed the presence of target compounds and (anti-)progestagenic activities in municipal wastewater and surface water. Nine and seven progestins were identified in influent and effluent wastewaters, respectively. Only two compounds, progesterone and medroxyprogesterone were found in surface waters. Progestagenic agonistic activities in influents were partially masked by strong anti-progestagenic activities that were detected in all influents and ranged from 2.63 to 83 ng/L of mifepristone equivalents (EQs). Progestagenic activities were detected in all effluents and ranged from 0.06 to 0.47 ng/L of reference compound ORG 2058 EQs (a synthetic progestin equivalents), thus indicating incomplete removal of progestins during wastewater treatment processing. This activity poses a continuing risk for the aquatic environment. By contrast, anti-progestagenic activities showed better removal efficiency in WWTPs compared to progestagenic agonistic activities. Anti-progestagenic activities were found in only three of six effluents and ranged from 0.26 to 2.1 ng/L mifepristone EQs. We explained most of the progestagenic activity in municipal WWTP effluents by the presence of synthetic progestins and progesterone, which contributed 65-96% of such activity in samples where no antagonistic activity was found. The progestins medroxyprogesterone acetate, megestrol acetate and progesterone contributed most to the progestagenic activity detected in municipal effluents. Anti-progestagenic activities were found in some municipal effluents, but no causative agents were revealed because two analysed selective progesterone receptor modulators (SPRMs) with anti-progestagenic activities, mifepristone and ulipristal acetate, were not present in the effluents.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pavel Šauer
- University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters, South Bohemian Research Center of Aquaculture and Biodiversity of Hydrocenoses, Zátiší 728/II, 389 25 Vodňany, Czech Republic.
| | - Alžběta Stará
- University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters, South Bohemian Research Center of Aquaculture and Biodiversity of Hydrocenoses, Zátiší 728/II, 389 25 Vodňany, Czech Republic
| | - Oksana Golovko
- University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters, South Bohemian Research Center of Aquaculture and Biodiversity of Hydrocenoses, Zátiší 728/II, 389 25 Vodňany, Czech Republic
| | - Olga Valentová
- University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters, South Bohemian Research Center of Aquaculture and Biodiversity of Hydrocenoses, Zátiší 728/II, 389 25 Vodňany, Czech Republic
| | - Adam Bořík
- University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters, South Bohemian Research Center of Aquaculture and Biodiversity of Hydrocenoses, Zátiší 728/II, 389 25 Vodňany, Czech Republic
| | - Roman Grabic
- University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters, South Bohemian Research Center of Aquaculture and Biodiversity of Hydrocenoses, Zátiší 728/II, 389 25 Vodňany, Czech Republic
| | - Hana Kocour Kroupová
- University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters, South Bohemian Research Center of Aquaculture and Biodiversity of Hydrocenoses, Zátiší 728/II, 389 25 Vodňany, Czech Republic
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30
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Prochazkova T, Sychrova E, Vecerkova J, Javurkova B, Otoupalikova A, Pernica M, Simek Z, Smutna M, Lepsova-Skacelova O, Hilscherova K. Estrogenic activity and contributing compounds in stagnant water bodies with massive occurrence of phytoplankton. WATER RESEARCH 2018; 136:12-21. [PMID: 29486257 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2018.02.040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/11/2017] [Revised: 02/07/2018] [Accepted: 02/17/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Stagnant water bodies have generally received little attention regarding the presence of endocrine disruptive compounds, although they can integrate diverse pollutants from multiple different sources. Many compounds of anthropogenic as well as natural origin can contribute to the overall estrogenicity of surface waters and some of them can exhibit adverse effects on aquatic biota even in very low concentrations. This study focused on freshwater ponds and reservoirs affected by water blooms and determined the estrogenic activity of water by in vitro bioassay as well as concentrations of several important groups of estrogenic compounds (estrogenic hormones, alkylphenols, and phytoestrogens) by LC-MS/MS analyses. Estrogenic hormones were found at concentrations up to 7.1 ng.L-1, similarly to flavonoids, whose concentrations did not exceed 12.5 ng.L-1. Among alkylphenols, only bisphenol A and 4-tert-octylphenol were detected in levels reaching 100 ng.L-1 at maximum. Estrogenic activity of water samples varied from below the quantification limit to 1.95 ng.L-1. There does not seem to be any general causal link of the massive phytoplankton occurrence with the estrogenicity of water or concentration of phytoestrogens, since they showed no direct relationship with the phytoplankton abundance or composition across sites. The contribution of the analysed compounds to the estrogenic activity was calculated in three scenarios. In minimum scenario, just the compounds above quantification limit (LOQ) were taken into account and for most samples, only minor part (<6%) of the biological activity could be explained. In the mean and maximum scenarios, we included also compounds below LOQ into the calculations at the level of LOQ/2 and LOQ, respectively. In these cases, a considerable part of the estrogenic activity could be attributed to the possible presence of steroid estrogens below LOQ. However, for the samples with estrogenic activity greater than 1 ng.L-1, more than 50% of the estrogenic activity remained unexplained even in the maximum scenario. Probably other compounds or possible interactions between individual substances cause the estrogenic activity in these types of water bodies and in this case, the results of LC-MS/MS analyses cannot sufficiently predict the biological effects. A complex approach including bioassays is needed when assessing the estrogenicity of these types of surface waters.
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Affiliation(s)
- T Prochazkova
- RECETOX - Research Centre for Toxic Compounds in the Environment, Masaryk University, Faculty of Science, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - E Sychrova
- RECETOX - Research Centre for Toxic Compounds in the Environment, Masaryk University, Faculty of Science, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - J Vecerkova
- RECETOX - Research Centre for Toxic Compounds in the Environment, Masaryk University, Faculty of Science, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - B Javurkova
- RECETOX - Research Centre for Toxic Compounds in the Environment, Masaryk University, Faculty of Science, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - A Otoupalikova
- RECETOX - Research Centre for Toxic Compounds in the Environment, Masaryk University, Faculty of Science, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - M Pernica
- RECETOX - Research Centre for Toxic Compounds in the Environment, Masaryk University, Faculty of Science, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Z Simek
- RECETOX - Research Centre for Toxic Compounds in the Environment, Masaryk University, Faculty of Science, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - M Smutna
- RECETOX - Research Centre for Toxic Compounds in the Environment, Masaryk University, Faculty of Science, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - O Lepsova-Skacelova
- Department of Botany, University of South Bohemia, Faculty of Science, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic
| | - K Hilscherova
- RECETOX - Research Centre for Toxic Compounds in the Environment, Masaryk University, Faculty of Science, Brno, Czech Republic.
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31
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Hashmi MAK, Escher BI, Krauss M, Teodorovic I, Brack W. Effect-directed analysis (EDA) of Danube River water sample receiving untreated municipal wastewater from Novi Sad, Serbia. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2018; 624:1072-1081. [PMID: 29929224 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.12.187] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2017] [Revised: 12/17/2017] [Accepted: 12/17/2017] [Indexed: 05/10/2023]
Abstract
The release of a multitude of pollutants from untreated municipal wastewater (UMWW) to surface waters may have adverse effects on aquatic wildlife including endocrine disruption. For effect-directed analysis (EDA), a Danube river water sample downstream of emission of UMWW in Novi Sad, Serbia was extracted on-site and after processing in the lab was subjected to reporter gene assays which revealed pronounced estrogenic (ERα), androgenic (AR) and oxidative stress response (OSR). The sample was fractionated with reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) collecting thirty fractions at two-minute intervals. Biological analysis identified 5 ERα- and 3 AR-active fractions while none of the fractions showed considerable activity with regards to OSR. It appeared that OSR of parent sample (PS) distributed over all fractions. Chemical analysis of active fractions by LC-MS/MS and LC-HRMS/MS found female reproductive hormones (estrone (E1), estradiol (E2), estriol (E3)) as cause of ERα activity while male reproductive hormones (testosterone, dihydrotestosterone (DHT)) and gestagens (progesterone and medroxyprogesterone) were active in the AR bioassay. Designed chemical mixtures in concentration ratios detected in the active fractions were tested with the bioassays. The identified chemicals quantitatively explained the observed bioactivity with no substantial contribution attributable to xenobiotics. In terms of bioanalytical equivalent concentrations (BEQs), detected chemicals explained 5-159% of ERα-active fraction's biological effect and 31-147% for AR-active fractions. Estradiol and dihydrotestosterone were the compounds dominating the most of the effect in this study. In summary, androgenic compounds were found to be as potent as estrogenic compounds while OSR was found to be the cumulative effect of the mixture of many compounds present in the sample rather than the mixture effect dominated by individual chemicals. The obtained results stress the importance of wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) to minimize the pollutant load from UMWW in order to reduce the risk of endocrine disruption to the aquatic life as well as to improve the status of receiving freshwater ecosystem.
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Affiliation(s)
- Muhammad Arslan Kamal Hashmi
- UFZ - Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Effect-Directed Analysis, 04318 Leipzig, Germany; RWTH Aachen University, Institute for Environmental Research (Biology V), Department of Ecosystem Analysis (ESA), Worringer Weg 1, D-52074 Aachen, Germany.
| | - Beate I Escher
- UFZ - Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Cell Toxicology, 04318 Leipzig, Germany; Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, Environmental Toxicology, Center for Applied Geoscience, 72074 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Martin Krauss
- UFZ - Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Effect-Directed Analysis, 04318 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Ivana Teodorovic
- University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Sciences, Trg Dositeja Obradovica 2, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia
| | - Werner Brack
- UFZ - Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Effect-Directed Analysis, 04318 Leipzig, Germany; RWTH Aachen University, Institute for Environmental Research (Biology V), Department of Ecosystem Analysis (ESA), Worringer Weg 1, D-52074 Aachen, Germany
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Itzel F, Jewell KS, Leonhardt J, Gehrmann L, Nielsen U, Ternes TA, Schmidt TC, Tuerk J. Comprehensive analysis of antagonistic endocrine activity during ozone treatment of hospital wastewater. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2018; 624:1443-1454. [PMID: 29929255 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.12.181] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2017] [Revised: 12/15/2017] [Accepted: 12/16/2017] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
To reduce the discharge of micropollutants, advanced wastewater treatment methods were investigated in the last years. Estrogenic effects were found to be reduced by ozonation. These activities are usually measured using genetically modified cell-based tests. As these bioassays are representing a sum parameter, also inhibitory effects such as antagonistic effects need to be further investigated as they are potentially reducing the detected activities. Therefore, a direct comparison of chemical target analysis and biological equivalent concentrations measured by bioassays is often difficult. To investigate the fate of antagonistic activities and their role in mixtures with agonistic activities, two hospital wastewater treatment plants were studied after different treatment steps. Thereby highly enriched samples were analyzed by a combination of bioassays with chemical target and non-target analyses. In order to achieve an in-depth characterization of the antagonistic activities a fractionation of the enriched samples was performed. To identify relevant compounds an effect directed identification approach was used by combining high-resolution mass spectrometry and bioassays. The results showed a high reduction for estrogene and androgene activities. However, a constant antagonistic activity after membrane bioreactor and ozone treatment was observed. A reduction of the antagonistic activity was observed after passing an activated carbon filter. The fractionation approach showed a specific finger-print of each sample of the different treatment steps. Hereby we could show that the composition of agonistic and antagonistic active compounds is changing after each treatment step while the overall measured activity stays the same. Using fractionation and the combination of bioassays the number of relevant features detected by chemical non-target screening could be reduced by >85%. As a result the phosphorous flame retardant TCEP could be identified as anti-estrogene active. Future research should be done to identify more antagonistic active compounds and potentially active transformation products after ozone treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fabian Itzel
- Institut für Energie - und Umwelttechnik e. V., (IUTA, Institute of Energy and Environmental Technology), Bliersheimer Str. 58-60, 47229 Duisburg, Germany; University of Duisburg-Essen, Instrumental Analytical Chemistry, Universitätsstrasse 5, 45141 Essen, Germany; Centre for Water and Environmental Research (ZWU), University of Duisburg-Essen, Universitätsstrasse 2, 45141 Essen, Germany
| | - Kevin S Jewell
- Federal Institute of Hydrology (BfG), Am Mainzer Tor 1, 56068 Koblenz, Germany
| | - Juri Leonhardt
- Institut für Energie - und Umwelttechnik e. V., (IUTA, Institute of Energy and Environmental Technology), Bliersheimer Str. 58-60, 47229 Duisburg, Germany
| | - Linda Gehrmann
- Institut für Energie - und Umwelttechnik e. V., (IUTA, Institute of Energy and Environmental Technology), Bliersheimer Str. 58-60, 47229 Duisburg, Germany
| | - Ulf Nielsen
- DHI Urban Water, Agern Alle 5, 2970 Horsholm, Denmark
| | - Thomas A Ternes
- Federal Institute of Hydrology (BfG), Am Mainzer Tor 1, 56068 Koblenz, Germany
| | - Torsten C Schmidt
- University of Duisburg-Essen, Instrumental Analytical Chemistry, Universitätsstrasse 5, 45141 Essen, Germany; Centre for Water and Environmental Research (ZWU), University of Duisburg-Essen, Universitätsstrasse 2, 45141 Essen, Germany; IWW Water Centre, Moritzstr. 26, 45476 Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany
| | - Jochen Tuerk
- Institut für Energie - und Umwelttechnik e. V., (IUTA, Institute of Energy and Environmental Technology), Bliersheimer Str. 58-60, 47229 Duisburg, Germany; Centre for Water and Environmental Research (ZWU), University of Duisburg-Essen, Universitätsstrasse 2, 45141 Essen, Germany.
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Välitalo P, Massei R, Heiskanen I, Behnisch P, Brack W, Tindall AJ, Du Pasquier D, Küster E, Mikola A, Schulze T, Sillanpää M. Effect-based assessment of toxicity removal during wastewater treatment. WATER RESEARCH 2017; 126:153-163. [PMID: 28941401 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2017.09.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2017] [Revised: 08/24/2017] [Accepted: 09/04/2017] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
Wastewaters contain complex mixtures of chemicals, which can cause adverse toxic effects in the receiving environment. In the present study, the toxicity removal during wastewater treatment at seven municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) was investigated using an effect-based approach. A battery of eight bioassays was applied comprising of cytotoxicity, genotoxicity, endocrine disruption and fish embryo toxicity assays. Human cell-based CALUX assays, transgenic larval models and the fish embryo toxicity test were particularly sensitive to WWTP effluents. The results indicate that most effects were significantly reduced or completely removed during wastewater treatment (76-100%), while embryo toxicity, estrogenic activity and thyroid disruption were still detectable in the effluents suggesting that some harmful substances remain after treatment. The responsiveness of the bioassays was compared and the human cell-based CALUX assays showed highest responsiveness in the samples. Additionally, the fish embryo toxicity test and the transgenic larval models for endocrine disrupting effects showed high responsiveness at low sample concentrations in nearly all of the effluent samples. The results showed a similar effect pattern among all WWTPs investigated, indicating that the wastewater composition could be rather similar at different locations. There were no considerable differences in the toxicity removal efficiencies of the treatment plants and no correlation was observed with WWTP characteristics, such as process configuration or sludge age. This study demonstrated that a biotest battery comprising of multiple endpoints can serve as a powerful tool when assessing water quality or water treatment efficiency in a holistic manner. Rather than analyzing the concentrations of a few selected chemicals, bioassays can be used to complement traditional methods of monitoring in the future by assessing sum-parameter based effects, such as mixture effects, and tackling chemicals that are present at concentrations below chemical analytical detection limits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pia Välitalo
- Finnish Environment Institute, Laboratory Centre, Hakuninmaantie 6, 00430, Helsinki, Finland; Aalto University, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Tietotie 1E, 02150, Espoo, Finland.
| | - Riccardo Massei
- UFZ - Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research GmbH, Leipzig, Germany; Institute for Environmental Research (Biology V), RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | - Ilse Heiskanen
- Finnish Environment Institute, Laboratory Centre, Hakuninmaantie 6, 00430, Helsinki, Finland
| | | | - Werner Brack
- UFZ - Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research GmbH, Leipzig, Germany; Institute for Environmental Research (Biology V), RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | | | | | - Eberhard Küster
- UFZ - Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research GmbH, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Anna Mikola
- Aalto University, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Tietotie 1E, 02150, Espoo, Finland
| | - Tobias Schulze
- UFZ - Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research GmbH, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Markus Sillanpää
- Finnish Environment Institute, Laboratory Centre, Hakuninmaantie 6, 00430, Helsinki, Finland
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Conley JM, Evans N, Cardon MC, Rosenblum L, Iwanowicz LR, Hartig PC, Schenck KM, Bradley PM, Wilson VS. Occurrence and In Vitro Bioactivity of Estrogen, Androgen, and Glucocorticoid Compounds in a Nationwide Screen of United States Stream Waters. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2017; 51:4781-4791. [PMID: 28401766 PMCID: PMC11247474 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.6b06515] [Citation(s) in RCA: 73] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/20/2023]
Abstract
In vitro bioassays are sensitive, effect-based tools used to quantitatively screen for chemicals with nuclear receptor activity in environmental samples. We measured in vitro estrogen (ER), androgen (AR), and glucocorticoid receptor (GR) activity, along with a broad suite of chemical analytes, in streamwater from 35 well-characterized sites (3 reference and 32 impacted) across 24 states and Puerto Rico. ER agonism was the most frequently detected with nearly all sites (34/35) displaying activity (range, 0.054-116 ng E2Eq L-1). There was a strong linear relationship (r2 = 0.917) between in vitro ER activity and concentrations of steroidal estrogens after correcting for the in vitro potency of each compound. AR agonism was detected in 5/35 samples (range, 1.6-4.8 ng DHTEq L-1) but concentrations of androgenic compounds were largely unable to account for the in vitro activity. Similarly, GR agonism was detected in 9/35 samples (range, 6.0-43 ng DexEq L-1); however, none of the recognized GR-active compounds on the target-chemical analyte list were detected. The utility of in vitro assays in water quality monitoring was evident from both the quantitative agreement between ER activity and estrogen concentrations, as well as the detection of AR and GR activity for which there were limited or no corresponding target-chemical detections to explain the bioactivity. Incorporation of in vitro bioassays as complements to chemical analyses in standard water quality monitoring efforts would allow for more complete assessment of the chemical mixtures present in many surface waters.
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Affiliation(s)
- Justin M Conley
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency/National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory/Toxicity Assessment Division , Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27711 United States
| | - Nicola Evans
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency/National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory/Toxicity Assessment Division , Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27711 United States
| | - Mary C Cardon
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency/National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory/Toxicity Assessment Division , Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27711 United States
| | - Laura Rosenblum
- CB&I Federal Services , Cincinnati, Ohio 45212 United States
| | - Luke R Iwanowicz
- U.S. Geological Survey/Leetown Science Center , Kearneysville, West Virginia 25430 United States
| | - Phillip C Hartig
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency/National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory/Toxicity Assessment Division , Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27711 United States
| | - Kathleen M Schenck
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency/National Risk Management Research Laboratory/Water Supply and Water Resources Division , Cincinnati, Ohio 45220 United States
| | - Paul M Bradley
- U.S. Geological Survey/South Atlantic Water Science Center , Columbia, South Carolina 29210 United States
| | - Vickie S Wilson
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency/National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory/Toxicity Assessment Division , Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27711 United States
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Kunz PY, Simon E, Creusot N, Jayasinghe BS, Kienle C, Maletz S, Schifferli A, Schönlau C, Aït-Aïssa S, Denslow ND, Hollert H, Werner I, Vermeirssen ELM. Effect-based tools for monitoring estrogenic mixtures: Evaluation of five in vitro bioassays. WATER RESEARCH 2017; 110:378-388. [PMID: 27836174 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2016.10.062] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2016] [Revised: 10/12/2016] [Accepted: 10/23/2016] [Indexed: 05/18/2023]
Abstract
In vitro estrogen receptor transactivation assays (ERTAs) are increasingly used to measure the overall estrogenic activity of environmental water samples, which may serve as an indicator of exposure of fish or other aquatic organisms to (xeno)estrogens. Another potential area of application of ERTAs is to assist the monitoring of the potent steroids 17β-estradiol (E2) and 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2) under the Water Framework Directive (WFD) watch-list mechanism. Chemical analysis of E2 and EE2 is currently hampered by limits of quantification being mostly above the proposed annual average Environmental Quality Standards (AA-EQS) of 0.4 and 0.035 ng/L, respectively. Sensitive ERTAs could circumvent current detection challenges by measuring total estrogenic activity expressed as E2-equivalent (EEQ) concentrations. However, the use of different ERTAs results in different EEQ concentrations for the same sample. Reasons for these differences are known, but it remains unclear how to use and interpret bioassay results in a harmonised way. The aim of this study was to compare the intra- and inter-day variability of EEQ measurements using five different ERTAs (YES, ERα-CALUX, MELN, T47D-KBluc and GeneBLAzer-ERα) with regard to their applicability as effect-based tools in environmental monitoring. Environmentally relevant artificial mixtures of (xeno)estrogens were prepared to represent samples with higher (i.e. multiple times the AA-EQS for E2) or lower pollution levels (i.e. around the AA-EQS for E2). Mixtures were tested either directly or following solid phase extraction (SPE). The SPE step was included, as environmental samples typically require enrichment before analysis. Samples were analysed repeatedly to test intra-day and inter-day variability. Estrogenicity was quantified using the 10% effect level (PC10) of the positive control (E2) and expressed as EEQ concentrations. The average coefficient of variation (CV) of EEQ concentrations for the five ERTAs and all samples was 32%. CV was lower for intra-day experiments (30%) compared to inter-day experiments (37%). Sample extraction using SPE did not lead to additional variability; the intra-day CV for SPE extracted samples was 28%. Of the five ERTAs, ERα-CALUX had the best precision and repeatability (overall CV of 13%).
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Affiliation(s)
- Petra Y Kunz
- Swiss Centre for Applied Ecotoxicology Eawag-EPFL, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
| | - Eszter Simon
- Swiss Centre for Applied Ecotoxicology Eawag-EPFL, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
| | - Nicolas Creusot
- INERIS, Institut National de l'Environnement Industriel et des Risques, Unité ECOT, Verneuil en Halatte, France
| | - B Sumith Jayasinghe
- University of Florida, Center for Environmental and Human Toxicology, Gainesville, FL, USA
| | - Cornelia Kienle
- Swiss Centre for Applied Ecotoxicology Eawag-EPFL, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
| | - Sibylle Maletz
- RWTH Aachen University, Institute for Environmental Research, Aachen, Germany
| | - Andrea Schifferli
- Swiss Centre for Applied Ecotoxicology Eawag-EPFL, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
| | - Christine Schönlau
- RWTH Aachen University, Institute for Environmental Research, Aachen, Germany
| | - Selim Aït-Aïssa
- INERIS, Institut National de l'Environnement Industriel et des Risques, Unité ECOT, Verneuil en Halatte, France
| | - Nancy D Denslow
- University of Florida, Center for Environmental and Human Toxicology, Gainesville, FL, USA
| | - Henner Hollert
- RWTH Aachen University, Institute for Environmental Research, Aachen, Germany
| | - Inge Werner
- Swiss Centre for Applied Ecotoxicology Eawag-EPFL, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
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Leusch FDL, Neale PA, Hebert A, Scheurer M, Schriks MCM. Analysis of the sensitivity of in vitro bioassays for androgenic, progestagenic, glucocorticoid, thyroid and estrogenic activity: Suitability for drinking and environmental waters. ENVIRONMENT INTERNATIONAL 2017; 99:120-130. [PMID: 28017361 DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2016.12.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 59] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2016] [Revised: 12/13/2016] [Accepted: 12/15/2016] [Indexed: 05/08/2023]
Abstract
The presence of endocrine disrupting chemicals in the aquatic environment poses a risk for ecosystem health. Consequently there is a need for sensitive tools, such as in vitro bioassays, to monitor endocrine activity in environmental waters. The aim of the current study was to assess whether current in vitro bioassays are suitable to detect endocrine activity in a range of water types. The reviewed assays included androgenic (n=11), progestagenic (n=6), glucocorticoid (n=5), thyroid (n=5) and estrogenic (n=8) activity in both agonist and antagonist mode. Existing in vitro bioassay data were re-evaluated to determine assay sensitivity, with the calculated method detection limit compared with measured hormonal activity in treated wastewater, surface water and drinking water to quantify whether the studied assays were sufficiently sensitive for environmental samples. With typical sample enrichment, current in vitro bioassays are sufficiently sensitive to detect androgenic activity in treated wastewater and surface water, with anti-androgenic activity able to be detected in most environmental waters. Similarly, with sufficient enrichment, the studied mammalian assays are able to detect estrogenic activity even in drinking water samples. Fewer studies have focused on progestagenic and glucocorticoid activity, but some of the reviewed bioassays are suitable for detecting activity in treated wastewater and surface water. Even less is known about (anti)thyroid activity, but the available data suggests that the more sensitive reviewed bioassays are still unlikely to detect this type of activity in environmental waters. The findings of this review can help provide guidance on in vitro bioassay selection and required sample enrichment for optimised detection of endocrine activity in environmental waters.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frederic D L Leusch
- Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith School of Environment, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Qld, 4222, Australia.
| | - Peta A Neale
- Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith School of Environment, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Qld, 4222, Australia
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Chen XW, Zhao JL, Liu YS, Hu LX, Liu SS, Ying GG. Evaluation of estrogenic activity in the Pearl River by using effect-directed analysis. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL 2016; 23:21692-21702. [PMID: 27522204 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-016-7377-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2016] [Accepted: 08/01/2016] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
This study investigated estrogenic activity of water, sediment, and fish bile of the Pearl River in southern China by effect-directed analysis based on in vitro yeast screen assay and chemical analysis. Results showed higher estradiol equivalents (EEQ) for surface water in dry season than in wet season. Simple risk assessment suggested that high estrogenic risk would be expected in Shima River and Danshui River receiving discharge of effluents from cities in the region. Fractionation and effect-directed analysis showed that estrogenic activity mainly occurred in relatively polar fractions of surface water. Seven target estrogenic compounds (bisphenol A, 4-nonylphenol, 4-tert-octylphenol, 17α-ethynyl estradiol, estrone, diethylstilbestrol, and 17β-estradiol) only accounted for part of the measured estrogenic activity, with the rest contributions from other potential estrogenic chemicals such as phenols. Findings from this study suggest that fish in the river could be affected by those estrogenic chemicals. Proper measures should be taken to reduce the estrogenic activity in wastewaters before they are discharged into the riverine system in order to protect aquatic organisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiao -Wen Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 511 Kehua Street, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, 510640, China
| | - Jian-Liang Zhao
- State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 511 Kehua Street, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, 510640, China.
| | - You-Sheng Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 511 Kehua Street, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, 510640, China
| | - Li-Xin Hu
- State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 511 Kehua Street, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, 510640, China
| | - Shuang-Shuang Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 511 Kehua Street, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, 510640, China
| | - Guang-Guo Ying
- State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 511 Kehua Street, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, 510640, China.
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Li SG, Hou J, Liu XH, Cui BS, Bai JH. Morphological and transcriptional responses of Lycopersicon esculentum to hexavalent chromium in agricultural soil. ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY AND CHEMISTRY 2016; 35:1751-1758. [PMID: 26627465 DOI: 10.1002/etc.3315] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2015] [Revised: 11/16/2015] [Accepted: 11/30/2015] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
The carcinogenic, teratogenic, and mutagenic effects of hexavalent chromium (Cr[VI]) on living organisms through the food chain raise the immediate need to assess the potential toxicological impacts of Cr(VI) on human health. Therefore, the concentration-dependent responses of 12 Cr(VI)-responsive genes selected from a high-throughput Lycopersicon esculentum complementary DNA microarray were examined at different Cr concentrations. The results indicated that most of the genes were differentially expressed from 0.1 mg Cr/kg soil, whereas the lowest-observable-adverse-effect concentrations of Cr(VI) were 1.6 mg Cr/kg soil, 6.4 mg Cr/kg soil, 3.2 mg Cr/kg soil, and 0.4 mg Cr/kg soil for seed germination, root elongation, root biomass, and root morphology, respectively, implying that the transcriptional method was more sensitive than the traditional method in detecting Cr(VI) toxicity. Dose-dependent responses were observed for the relative expression of expansin (p = 0.778), probable chalcone-flavonone isomerase 3 (p = -0.496), and 12S seed storage protein CRD (p = -0.614); therefore, the authors propose the 3 genes as putative biomarkers in Cr(VI)-contaminated soil. Environ Toxicol Chem 2016;35:1751-1758. © 2015 SETAC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shi-Guo Li
- School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
| | - Jing Hou
- State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- Department of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, North China Electric Power University, Beijing, China
| | - Xin-Hui Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Bao-Shan Cui
- State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Jun-Hong Bai
- State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
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Montes-Grajales D, Bernardes GJL, Olivero-Verbel J. Urban Endocrine Disruptors Targeting Breast Cancer Proteins. Chem Res Toxicol 2016; 29:150-61. [PMID: 26700111 DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemrestox.5b00342] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Humans are exposed to a huge amount of environmental pollutants called endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). These molecules interfere with the homeostasis of the body, usually through mimicking natural hormones leading to activation or blocking of their receptors. Many of these compounds have been associated with a broad range of diseases including the development or increased susceptibility to breast cancer, the most prevalent cancer in women worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. Thus, this article presents a virtual high-throughput screening (vHTS) to evaluate the affinity of proteins related to breast cancer, such as ESR1, ERBB2, PGR, BCRA1, and SHBG, among others, with EDCs from urban sources. A blind docking strategy was employed to screen each protein-ligand pair in triplicate in AutoDock Vina 2.0, using the computed binding affinities as ranking criteria. The three-dimensional structures were previously obtained from EDCs DataBank and Protein Data Bank, prepared and optimized by SYBYL X-2.0. Some of the chemicals that exhibited the best affinity scores for breast cancer proteins in each category were 1,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, bisphenol A derivatives, perfluorooctanesulfonic acid, and benzo(a)pyrene, for catalase, several proteins, sex hormone-binding globulin, and cytochrome P450 1A2, respectively. An experimental validation of this approach was performed with a complex that gave a moderate binding affinity in silico, the sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG), and bisphenol A (BPA) complex. The protein was obtained using DNA recombinant technology and the physical interaction with BPA assessed through spectroscopic techniques. BPA binds on the recombinant SHBG, and this results in an increase of its α helix content. In short, this work shows the potential of several EDCs to bind breast cancer associated proteins as a tool to prioritize compounds to perform in vitro analysis to benefit the regulation or exposure prevention by the general population.
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Affiliation(s)
- Diana Montes-Grajales
- Environmental and Computational Chemistry Group, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zaragocilla Campus, University of Cartagena , Cartagena 130015, Colombia.,Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge , Lensfield Road, Cambridge CB2 1EW, United Kingdom
| | - Gonçalo J L Bernardes
- Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge , Lensfield Road, Cambridge CB2 1EW, United Kingdom.,Instituto de Medicina Molecular, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa , Av. Prof. Egas Moniz, 1649-028 Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Jesus Olivero-Verbel
- Environmental and Computational Chemistry Group, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zaragocilla Campus, University of Cartagena , Cartagena 130015, Colombia
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Välitalo P, Perkola N, Seiler TB, Sillanpää M, Kuckelkorn J, Mikola A, Hollert H, Schultz E. Estrogenic activity in Finnish municipal wastewater effluents. WATER RESEARCH 2016; 88:740-749. [PMID: 26584345 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2015.10.056] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2015] [Revised: 10/16/2015] [Accepted: 10/28/2015] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
Effluents from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are a major source of estrogenic compounds to the aquatic environment. In the present work, estrogenic activities of effluents from eight municipal WWTPs in Finland were studied. The main objectives of the study were to quantify the concentrations of selected estrogenic compounds, to evaluate their contribution to estrogenic potency and to test the feasibility of the commercial bioassays for wastewater analysis. The effluent samples were analyzed by two in vitro tests, i.e. ERα-CALUX(®) and ELISA-E2, and by liquid chromatography mass spectrometry for six estrogenic compounds: estrone (E1), 17β-estradiol (E2), estriol (E3), 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2), 17α-estradiol and bisphenol A (BPA). Estrogenic effects were found in all of the effluent samples with both of the bioassays. The concentrations measured with ELISA-E2 (8.6-61.6 ng/L) were clearly higher but exhibited a similar pattern than those with chemical analysis (E2 <limit of quantification - 6.8 ng/L) and ERα-CALUX(®) (0.8-29.7 ng E2 EEQ/L). Due to the concentrations under limit of quantification, the evaluation of the chemical contribution to estrogenic potency was possible only for E1 and BPA, which contributed less than 10% to the observed effects, except in one sample with a high BPA contribution (17%). The contribution of E2 was significant in two samples where it was detected (28% and 67%). The results demonstrated that more comprehensive information on potential estrogenic activity of wastewater effluents can be achieved by using in vitro biotests in addition to chemical analysis and their use would be beneficial in monitoring and screening purposes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pia Välitalo
- Finnish Environment Institute, Laboratory Centre, Hakuninmaantie 6, 00430 Helsinki, Finland; Aalto University, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Tietotie 1E, 02150 Espoo, Finland.
| | - Noora Perkola
- Finnish Environment Institute, Laboratory Centre, Hakuninmaantie 6, 00430 Helsinki, Finland
| | - Thomas-Benjamin Seiler
- RWTH Aachen University, Department of Ecosystem Analyses, Institute for Environmental Research, Worringerweg 1, 52074 Aachen, Germany
| | - Markus Sillanpää
- Finnish Environment Institute, Laboratory Centre, Hakuninmaantie 6, 00430 Helsinki, Finland
| | - Jochen Kuckelkorn
- RWTH Aachen University, Department of Ecosystem Analyses, Institute for Environmental Research, Worringerweg 1, 52074 Aachen, Germany
| | - Anna Mikola
- Aalto University, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Tietotie 1E, 02150 Espoo, Finland
| | - Henner Hollert
- RWTH Aachen University, Department of Ecosystem Analyses, Institute for Environmental Research, Worringerweg 1, 52074 Aachen, Germany
| | - Eija Schultz
- Finnish Environment Institute, Laboratory Centre, Hakuninmaantie 6, 00430 Helsinki, Finland
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Hou J, Bai L, Xie Y, Liu X, Cui B. Biomarker discovery and gene expression responses in Lycopersicon esculentum root exposed to lead. JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS 2015; 299:495-503. [PMID: 26252993 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2015.07.054] [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: 03/16/2015] [Revised: 07/09/2015] [Accepted: 07/19/2015] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
Gene expression analysis has shown particular promise for the identification of molecular biomarkers that can be used for further evaluation of potential toxicity of chemicals present in agricultural soil. In the study, we focused on the development of molecular markers to detect Pb toxicity in agricultural soil. Using the results obtained from microarray analysis, twelve Pb-responsive genes were selected and tested in different Pb concentrations to examine their concentration-response characteristics using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). All the Pb treatments set in our study could generally induce the differential expression of the 12 genes, while the lowest observable adverse effect concentration (LOAEC) of Pb for seed germination, root elongation, biomass and structural modification derived from 1,297, 177, 177, and 1,297 mg Pb/kg soil, respectively, suggesting that the transcriptional approach was more sensitive than the traditional end points of death, growth, and morphology for the evaluation of Pb toxicity. The relative expression of glycoalkaloid metabolism 1 (P=-0.790), ethylene-responsive transcription factor ERF017 (P=-0.686) and CASP-like protein 4C2 (P=-0.652) demonstrates a dose-dependent response with Pb content in roots, implying that the three genes can be used as sensitive bioindicators of Pb stress in Lycopersicon esculentum.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jing Hou
- State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Lili Bai
- School of Safety and Environmental Engineering, Capital University of Economics and Business, Beijing 100070, China
| | - Yujia Xie
- State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Xinhui Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
| | - Baoshan Cui
- State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
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Neale PA, Escher BI, Leusch FDL. Understanding the implications of dissolved organic carbon when assessing antagonism in vitro: An example with an estrogen receptor assay. CHEMOSPHERE 2015; 135:341-346. [PMID: 25978675 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2015.04.084] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2015] [Revised: 04/24/2015] [Accepted: 04/27/2015] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
Both estrogenic and anti-estrogenic activity has been observed in water samples. Some studies have suggested that dissolved organic carbon (DOC), which can be co-extracted during sample enrichment, contributes to the apparent antagonistic effect. DOC has a high sorption capacity for the estrogen receptor (ER) agonist 17β-estradiol, which may reduce the available 17β-estradiol concentration in the antagonist testing mode and potentially lead to apparent antagonism. The aim of the study was to determine the influence of DOC when assessing antagonism in an ER reporter gene assay. The presence of DOC shifted the 17β-estradiol concentration-effect curve to higher concentrations, increasing the nominal EC50 value by up to 0.3 log units. However, this shift was within the usual variability associated with repeated measurements of concentration-effect curves. This shift was not due to DOC being an antagonist itself or interfering with fluorescence measurements, but was due to DOC reducing the bioavailability of 17β-estradiol. This was demonstrated by modelling the DOC sorption corrected 17β-estradiol concentration using experimental DOC-water partition coefficients (KDOC). While the shift in the 17β-estradiol concentration-effect curve was minor, sorption of 17β-estradiol to DOC can have an impact when assessing antagonism. At the EC50 agonist concentration, both modelled and experimental results showed that DOC at concentrations similar to that co-extracted in water samples caused suppression of the agonist at levels that would be classified as antagonism. The suppression was less pronounced at the EC80 agonist concentration, hence this is recommended when assessing antagonism of DOC rich samples, such as surface water and wastewater.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peta A Neale
- Smart Water Research Centre, School of Environment, Griffith University, Southport, QLD 4222, Australia; The University of Queensland, National Research Centre for Environmental Toxicology (Entox), Brisbane, QLD 4108, Australia.
| | - Beate I Escher
- The University of Queensland, National Research Centre for Environmental Toxicology (Entox), Brisbane, QLD 4108, Australia; UFZ - Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Cell Toxicology, 04318 Leipzig, Germany; Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, Environmental Toxicology, Center for Applied Geosciences, 72074 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Frederic D L Leusch
- Smart Water Research Centre, School of Environment, Griffith University, Southport, QLD 4222, Australia
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Neale PA, Leusch FDL. Considerations when assessing antagonism in vitro: Why standardizing the agonist concentration matters. CHEMOSPHERE 2015; 135:20-23. [PMID: 25876032 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2015.03.054] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2015] [Revised: 03/03/2015] [Accepted: 03/27/2015] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
There is increasing recognition of the importance of assessing both agonism and antagonism in parallel for environmental samples. Cell-based in vitro assays have the advantage over receptor binding assays as they are able to differentiate between agonist and antagonist activity, but at present there is no standardized approach to assess antagonism in vitro, and in particular the competing agonist concentration can vary in the literature anywhere from half maximal to maximal effect concentrations. In this study, we investigated the influence of changing agonist concentrations in the estrogen receptor alpha (ERα), progesterone receptor (PR) and glucocorticoid receptor (GR) assays run in antagonist mode. The antagonistic effect varied by over two orders of magnitude when using the range of agonist concentrations applied in the literature, clearly indicating the need for standardization. By comparing antagonist EC50 values with different background agonist concentrations, an EC80 background agonist concentration is recommended when assessing antagonism in vitro to optimise both assay sensitivity and reproducibility.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peta A Neale
- Smart Water Research Centre, School of Environment, Griffith University, Southport, QLD 4222, Australia.
| | - Frederic D L Leusch
- Smart Water Research Centre, School of Environment, Griffith University, Southport, QLD 4222, Australia
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Kassotis CD, Alvarez DA, Taylor JA, vom Saal FS, Nagel SC, Tillitt DE. Characterization of Missouri surface waters near point sources of pollution reveals potential novel atmospheric route of exposure for bisphenol A and wastewater hormonal activity pattern. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2015; 524-525:384-393. [PMID: 25917777 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.04.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2015] [Revised: 04/02/2015] [Accepted: 04/03/2015] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
Surface water contamination by chemical pollutants increasingly threatens water quality around the world. Among the many contaminants found in surface water, there is growing concern regarding endocrine disrupting chemicals, based on their ability to interfere with some aspect of hormone action in exposed organisms, including humans. This study assessed water quality at several sites across Missouri (near wastewater treatment plants and airborne release sites of bisphenol A) based on hormone receptor activation potencies and chemical concentrations present in the surface water. We hypothesized that bisphenol A and ethinylestradiol would be greater in water near permitted airborne release sites and wastewater treatment plant inputs, respectively, and that these two compounds would be responsible for the majority of activities in receptor-based assays conducted with water collected near these sites. Concentrations of bisphenol A and ethinylestradiol were compared to observed receptor activities using authentic standards to assess contribution to total activities, and quantitation of a comprehensive set of wastewater compounds was performed to better characterize each site. Bisphenol A concentrations were found to be elevated in surface water near permitted airborne release sites, raising questions that airborne releases of BPA may influence nearby surface water contamination and may represent a previously underestimated source to the environment and potential for human exposure. Estrogen and androgen receptor activities of surface water samples were predictive of wastewater input, although the lower sensitivity of the ethinylestradiol ELISA relative to the very high sensitivity of the bioassay approaches did not allow a direct comparison. Wastewater-influenced sites also had elevated anti-estrogenic and anti-androgenic equivalence, while sites without wastewater discharges exhibited no antagonist activities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher D Kassotis
- Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Women's Health, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, United States; Division of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, United States
| | - David A Alvarez
- U.S. Geological Survey, Columbia Environmental Research Center, 4200 New Haven Road, Columbia, MO 65201, United States
| | - Julia A Taylor
- Division of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, United States
| | - Frederick S vom Saal
- Division of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, United States
| | - Susan C Nagel
- Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Women's Health, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, United States; Division of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, United States
| | - Donald E Tillitt
- U.S. Geological Survey, Columbia Environmental Research Center, 4200 New Haven Road, Columbia, MO 65201, United States; Division of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, United States.
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Adsorption Removal of Environmental Hormones of Dimethyl Phthalate Using Novel Magnetic Adsorbent. ScientificWorldJournal 2015; 2015:903706. [PMID: 26258169 PMCID: PMC4519534 DOI: 10.1155/2015/903706] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2015] [Accepted: 06/16/2015] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Magnetic polyvinyl alcohol adsorbent M-PVAL was employed to remove and concentrate dimethyl phthalate DMP. The M-PVAL was prepared after sequential syntheses of magnetic Fe3O4 (M) and polyvinyl acetate (M-PVAC). The saturated magnetizations of M, M-PVAC, and M-PVAL are 57.2, 26.0, and 43.2 emu g−1 with superparamagnetism, respectively. The average size of M-PVAL by number is 0.75 μm in micro size. Adsorption experiments include three cases: (1) adjustment of initial pH (pH0) of solution to 5, (2) no adjustment of pH0 with value in 6.04–6.64, and (3) adjusted pH0 = 7. The corresponding saturated amounts of adsorption of unimolecular layer of Langmuir isotherm are 4.01, 5.21, and 4.22 mg g−1, respectively. Values of heterogeneity factor of Freundlich isotherm are 2.59, 2.19, and 2.59 which are greater than 1, revealing the favorable adsorption of DMP/M-PVAL system. Values of adsorption activation energy per mole of Dubinin-Radushkevich isotherm are, respectively, of low values of 7.04, 6.48, and 7.19 kJ mol−1, indicating the natural occurring of the adsorption process studied. The tiny size of adsorbent makes the adsorption take place easily while its superparamagnetism is beneficial for the separation and recovery of micro adsorbent from liquid by applying magnetic field after completion of adsorption.
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Jung C, Son A, Her N, Zoh KD, Cho J, Yoon Y. Removal of endocrine disrupting compounds, pharmaceuticals, and personal care products in water using carbon nanotubes: A review. J IND ENG CHEM 2015. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jiec.2014.12.035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 148] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
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Ihara M, Kitamura T, Kumar V, Park CB, Ihara MO, Lee SJ, Yamashita N, Miyagawa S, Iguchi T, Okamoto S, Suzuki Y, Tanaka H. Evaluation of Estrogenic Activity of Wastewater: Comparison Among In Vitro ERα Reporter Gene Assay, In Vivo Vitellogenin Induction, and Chemical Analysis. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2015; 49:6319-26. [PMID: 25902010 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.5b01027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/12/2023]
Abstract
The in vitro estrogen receptor (ER) reporter gene assay has long been used to measure estrogenic activity in wastewater. In a previous study, we demonstrated that the assay represents net estrogenic activity in the balance between estrogenic and antiestrogenic activities in wastewater. However, it remained unclear whether the net estrogenic activity measured by the in vitro ERα reporter gene assay can predict the in vivo estrogenic effect of wastewater. To determine this, we measured the following: estrogenic and antiestrogenic activities of wastewater and reclaimed water by the in vitro ERα reporter gene assay, expression of vitellogenin-1 (vtg1) and choriogenin-H (chgH) in male medaka (Oryzias latipes) by quantitative real-time PCR, and estrone, 17β-estradiol, estriol, and 17α-ethynylestradiol concentrations chemically to predict estrogenic activity. The net estrogenic activity measured by the in vitro medaka ERα reporter gene assay predicted the in vivo vtg1/chgH expression in male medaka more accurately than the concentrations of estrogens. These results also mean that in vivo vtg1/chgH expression in male medaka is determined by the balance between estrogenic and antiestrogenic activities. The in vitro medaka ERα reporter gene assay also predicted in vivo vtg1/chgH expression on male medaka better than the human ERα reporter gene assay.
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Affiliation(s)
- Masaru Ihara
- †Research Center for Environmental Quality Management, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University, 1-2 Yumihama, Otsu, Shiga 520-0811, Japan
| | - Tomokazu Kitamura
- ‡Public Works Research Institute, 1-6 Minamihara, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8516, Japan
| | - Vimal Kumar
- †Research Center for Environmental Quality Management, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University, 1-2 Yumihama, Otsu, Shiga 520-0811, Japan
- §University of South Bohemia in Ceske Budejovice, Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters, South Bohemian Research Center of Aquaculture and Biodiversity of Hydrocenoses, Research Institute of Fish Culture and Hydrobiology, Zátiší 728/II, 389 25 Vodňany, Czech Republic
| | - Chang-Beom Park
- ‡Public Works Research Institute, 1-6 Minamihara, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8516, Japan
- ∥Environment and Bio Group, Korea Institute of Science and Technology Europe, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
| | - Mariko O Ihara
- †Research Center for Environmental Quality Management, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University, 1-2 Yumihama, Otsu, Shiga 520-0811, Japan
| | - Sang-Jung Lee
- †Research Center for Environmental Quality Management, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University, 1-2 Yumihama, Otsu, Shiga 520-0811, Japan
| | - Naoyuki Yamashita
- †Research Center for Environmental Quality Management, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University, 1-2 Yumihama, Otsu, Shiga 520-0811, Japan
| | - Shinichi Miyagawa
- ⊥Okazaki Institute for Integrative Bioscience, National Institute for Basic Biology, National Institutes of Natural Sciences, and Department of Basic Biology, Faculty of Life Science, Graduate University for Advanced Studies, SOKENDAI, Higashiyama 5-1, Myodaiji, Okazaki, Aichi 444-8787, Japan
| | - Taisen Iguchi
- ⊥Okazaki Institute for Integrative Bioscience, National Institute for Basic Biology, National Institutes of Natural Sciences, and Department of Basic Biology, Faculty of Life Science, Graduate University for Advanced Studies, SOKENDAI, Higashiyama 5-1, Myodaiji, Okazaki, Aichi 444-8787, Japan
| | - Seiichiro Okamoto
- ‡Public Works Research Institute, 1-6 Minamihara, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8516, Japan
| | - Yutaka Suzuki
- ‡Public Works Research Institute, 1-6 Minamihara, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8516, Japan
| | - Hiroaki Tanaka
- †Research Center for Environmental Quality Management, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University, 1-2 Yumihama, Otsu, Shiga 520-0811, Japan
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Ihara M, Inoue A, Hanamoto S, Zhang H, Aoki J, Tanaka H. Detection of physiological activities of G protein-coupled receptor-acting pharmaceuticals in wastewater. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2015; 49:1903-1911. [PMID: 25556879 DOI: 10.1021/es505349s] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
Although pharmaceuticals are generally found at very low levels in aquatic environments, concern about their potential risks to humans and aquatic species has been raised because they are designed to be biologically active. To resolve this concern, we must know whether the biological activity of pharmaceuticals can be detected in waters. Nearly half of all marketed pharmaceuticals act by binding to the G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). In this study, we measured the physiological activity of pharmaceuticals in wastewater. We applied the in vitro transforming growth factor-α (TGFα) shedding assay, which accurately and sensitively detect GPCR activation, to investigate the agonistic/antagonistic activities of wastewater extracts against receptors for angiotensin (AT1), dopamine (D2, D4), adrenergic family members (α1B, α2A, β1, β3), acetylcholine (M1, M3), cannabinoid (CB1), vasopressin (V1A, V2), histamine (H1, H2, H3), 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT1A, 5-HT2C), prostanoid (EP3), and leukotriene (BLT1). As a result, antagonistic activity against AT1, D2, α1B, β1, M1, M3, H1, and V2 receptors was detected at up to several μg/L for the first time. Agonistic activity against α2A receptor was also detected. The TGFα shedding assay is useful for measuring the physiological activity of GPCR-acting pharmaceuticals in the aquatic environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Masaru Ihara
- Research Center for Environmental Quality Management, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University , Otsu, Shiga 520-0811, Japan
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