Journal ArticleDOI
Relative potencies and combination effects of steroidal estrogens in fish.
Karen L. Thorpe,Rob I. Cummings,Thomas H. Hutchinson,Martin Scholze,Geoff Brighty,John P. Sumpter,Charles R. Tyler +6 more
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TLDR
The ability of each individual steroid to contribute to the overall effect of a mixture, even at individual no-effect concentrations, combined with the high estrogenic potency of the steroids, particularly the synthetic steroid EE2, emphasizes the need to consider the total estrogenic load of these chemicals in the authors' waterways.Abstract:
The natural steroids estradiol-17beta (E2) and estrone (E1) and the synthetic steroid ethynylestradiol-17alpha (EE2) have frequently been measured in waters receiving domestic effluents. All of these steroids bind to the estrogen receptor(s) and have been shown to elicit a range of estrogenic responses in fish at environmentally relevant concentrations. At present, however, no relative potency estimates have been derived for either the individual steroidal estrogens or their mixtures in vivo. In this study the estrogenic activity of E2, E1, and EE2, and the combination effects of a mixture of E2 and EE2 (equi-potent fixed-ratio mixture), were assessed using vitellogenin induction in a 14-day in vivo juvenile rainbow trout screening assay. Median effective concentrations, relative to E2, for induction of vitellogenin were determined from the concentration-response curves and the relative estrogenic potencies of each of the test chemicals calculated. Median effective concentrations were between 19 and 26 ng L(-1) for E2, 60 ng L(-1) for E1, and between 0.95 and 1.8 ng L(-1) for EE2, implying that EE2 was approximately 11 to 27 times more potent than E2, while E2 was 2.3 to 3.2 times more potent than E1. The median effective concentration, relative to E2, for the binary mixture of E2 and EE2 was 15 ng L(-1) (comprising 14.4 ng L(-1) E2 and 0.6 ng L(-1) EE2). Using the model of concentration addition it was shown that this activity of the binary mixture could be predicted from the activity of the individual chemicals. The ability of each individual steroid to contribute to the overall effect of a mixture, even at individual no-effect concentrations, combined with the high estrogenic potency of the steroids, particularly the synthetic steroid EE2, emphasizes the need to consider the total estrogenic load of these chemicals in our waterways.read more
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Journal ArticleDOI
Ecotoxicology of human pharmaceuticals.
TL;DR: It is shown that only very little is known about long-term effects of pharmaceuticals to aquatic organisms, in particular with respect to biological targets, and targeted ecotoxicological studies are needed focusing on subtle environmental effects.
Journal ArticleDOI
Collapse of a fish population after exposure to a synthetic estrogen
Karen A. Kidd,Paul J. Blanchfield,Kenneth H. Mills,Vince P. Palace,Robert E. Evans,James M. Lazorchak,Robert W. Flick +6 more
TL;DR: It is shown that chronic exposure of fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas) to low concentrations of the potent 17α-ethynylestradiol led to feminization of males through the production of vitellogenin mRNA and protein, impacts on gonadal development as evidenced by intersex in males and altered oogenesis in females, and, ultimately, a near extinction of this species from the lake.
Journal ArticleDOI
State of the Science of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals - 2012
TL;DR: The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNEP or WHO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.
Journal ArticleDOI
Human pharmaceuticals in the aquatic environment: a challenge to Green Chemistry.
Journal ArticleDOI
Oxidation of pharmaceuticals during ozonation of municipal wastewater effluents: a pilot study.
Marc M. Huber,Anke Göbel,Adriano Joss,Nadine Hermann,Dirk Löffler,Christa S. McArdell,Achim Ried,Hansrijedi Siegrist,Thomas A. Ternes,Urs von Gunten +9 more
TL;DR: Results show that many pharmaceuticals present in wastewater can be efficiently oxidized with O3 and that suspended solids have only a minor influence on the oxidation efficiency of nonsorbing micropollutants.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Widespread Sexual Disruption in Wild Fish
TL;DR: This paper demonstrates a high incidence of intersexuality in wild populations of riverine fish (roach; Rutilus rutilus) throughout the United Kingdom and indicates that reproductive and developmental effects do result from exposure to ambient levels of chemicals present in typical British rivers.
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Estrogenic Effects of Effluents from Sewage Treatment Works
TL;DR: The presence of vitellogenin in the plasma is indicative of estrogenic stimulation of the liver in oviparous fish, and rose rapidly and very markedly when trout were maintained in the effluent.
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Identification of Estrogenic Chemicals in STW Effluent. 1. Chemical Fractionation and in Vitro Biological Screening
TL;DR: In this article, a fractionation system combined with an in vitro assay for detecting estrogenic activity was developed in order to isolate and identify the major estrogenic chemicals present in seven sewage-treatment works (STW) effluents, receiving primarily domestic effluent, discharging into British rivers.
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Behavior and occurrence of estrogens in municipal sewage treatment plants--I. Investigations in Germany, Canada and Brazil.
TL;DR: In this paper, the behavior and occurrence of natural estrogens and synthetic contraceptives in municipal sewage treatment plants (STP) were investigated in German and Canadian facilities, and the mean recoveries of the analytes in ground water after SPE extraction, clean-up and derivatization generally exceeded 75%.
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Identification of Estrogenic Chemicals in STW Effluent. 2. In Vivo Responses in Trout and Roach
TL;DR: The occurrence of certain natural and synthetic steroidal estrogens in the final effluent from STW has been demonstrated and the response of adult male and female roach following exposure to 17β-estradiol was compared to the response to the alkylphenolic xenoestrogen.