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Combined biological and chemical assessment of estrogenic activities in wastewater treatment plant effluents

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An Erratum to this article was published on 26 February 2004

Abstract

Five wastewater treatment plant effluents were analyzed for known endocrine disrupters and estrogenicity. Estrogenicity was determined by using the yeast estrogen screen (YES) and by measuring the blood plasma vitellogenin (VTG) concentrations in exposed male rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). While all wastewater treatment plant effluents contained measurable concentrations of estrogens and gave a positive response with the YES, only at two sites did the male fish have significantly increased VTG blood plasma concentrations after the exposure, compared to pre-exposure concentrations. Estrone (E1) concentrations ranged up to 51 ng L−1, estradiol (E2) up to 6 ng L−1, and ethinylestradiol (EE2) up to 2 ng L−1 in the 90 samples analyzed. Alkylphenols, alkylphenolmonoethoxylates and alkylphenoldiethoxylates, even though found at µg L−1 concentrations in effluents from wastewater treatment plants with a significant industrial content, did not contribute much to the overall estrogenicity of the samples taken due to their low relative potency. Expected estrogenicities were calculated from the chemical data for each sample by using the principle of concentration additivity and relative potencies of the various chemicals as determined with the yeast estrogen screen. Measured and calculated estradiol equivalents gave the same order of magnitude and correlated rather well (R 2=0.6).

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Acknowledgements

This work was part of the European “Community Programme of Research on Environmental Hormones and Endocrine Disruptors” (COMPREHEND), supported by the Swiss Federal Office for Education and Science (BBW), grant Nr. 98.0090. The authors would like to thank John Sumpter (Brunel University, Uxbridge, UK) who kindly provided the recombinant yeast estrogen screen, Patricia Holm (EAWAG) and Helmut Segner (Centre for Fish and Wildlife Health, University of Berne, Switzerland), as well as all COMPREHEND consortium partners for fruitful and lively discussions. Karl Fent is acknowledged for his contributions in the initial phase of the project. Mark Borsuk and Beate Escher (EAWAG) are greatly acknowledged for their help with the statistical treatment of the data shown in Fig. 1, as are Michel Gibert and David Benanou (Vivendi Water, Paris, France) and all WWTP personnel for their on-site help during the exposures at the five WWTPs. Our special thanks go to Alan Pickering (Windermere, UK) for his outstanding coordination of COMPREHEND, and Alexander Zehnder (EAWAG) for his continuous support during the whole project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Swiss Federal Institute for Environmental Science and Technology (EAWAG), Ueberlandstrasse 133, P.O. Box 611, 8600, Dubendorf, Switzerland

    Hans-Rudolf Aerni, Bernd Kobler, Barbara V. Rutishauser, Felix E. Wettstein, Walter Giger, Andreas Hungerbühler, Armin Peter, René Schönenberger, A. Christiane Vögeli, Marc J.-F. Suter & Rik I. L. Eggen

  2. Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), 8092, Zurich, Switzerland

    René Fischer

  3. Complutense University , 28040 Madrid, Spain

    M. Dolores Marazuela

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  1. Hans-Rudolf Aerni
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  2. Bernd Kobler
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Correspondence to Marc J.-F. Suter.

Additional information

An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00216-004-2555-8

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Aerni, HR., Kobler, B., Rutishauser, B.V. et al. Combined biological and chemical assessment of estrogenic activities in wastewater treatment plant effluents. Anal Bioanal Chem 378, 688–696 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-003-2276-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-003-2276-4

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