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The levels of PAHs and aryl hydrocarbon receptor effects in sediments of Taihu Lake, China

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Abstract

A total of 16 priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in sediment samples from Taihu Lake were analyzed by instruments, and sediment extracts were assayed for aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR)-mediated ethoxyresorufin-o-deethylase (EROD) induction using a rat hepatoma cell line (H4IIE). The cause–effect relationship between the observed EROD activity and chemical concentrations of PAHs was examined. Our results showed that sediment extracts could induce significant AhR effects, and the bioassay-derived 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin equivalents of raw extracts (TEQbios) ranged from 2.7 to 39.8 pg g−1 dw. Chemical analysis showed that 16 PAHs were all detected in all samples, and their total concentrations (Σ16PAHs) ranged from 179.8 to 1,669.4 ng g−1 dw. The abundance of sedimentary PAHs in the three regions (Meiliang Bay, Gonghu Bay, and Xukou Bay) showed a decreasing trend from the inflow region to the outflow region. Chemical analysis-derived TEQs (TEQcals) contributed by PAHs ranged from 1.6 to 20.7 pg g−1 dw. The mean contribution rates (CRs) of PAHs to TEQbios were 48.9 %. In Meiliang Bay, EROD effects of 60 % samples were caused by PAHs whose CRs were more than 60 %, while in most sampling sites of Gonghu Bay and Xukou Bay, the CRs of PAHs to TEQbios were basically below 40 %. In addition, preliminary ecological risk assessment found that PAHs in sediments have very low ecological impact based on the chemical data of PAHs, while the sediments might pose an unacceptable risk to aquatic organisms and their predators based on the data of TEQbio. These findings showed that EROD effects of sediment extracts from Taihu Lake were also caused by other compounds, such as dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls, etc., together.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Young Teachers Visiting Scholar Program (60C11113001), the National Nature Science Foundation of China (No. 21277087), Shanghai Leading Academic Discipline (Grant No. S30109), and the Outstanding Young Teacher Research and Special Projects (Grant No. shu10040). At the same time, the authors are grateful for the contributions of Jianying Hu from Peking University, for providing good suggestions to the experiment design and article structure.

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  1. Institute of Environmental Pollution and Health, College of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, China

    Bingli Lei, Jia Kang, Xuetong Wang, Yingxin Yu, Xiaolan Zhang, Yu Wen & Yipei Wang

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  1. Bingli Lei
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  2. Jia Kang
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  3. Xuetong Wang
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Correspondence to Xiaolan Zhang.

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Lei, B., Kang, J., Wang, X. et al. The levels of PAHs and aryl hydrocarbon receptor effects in sediments of Taihu Lake, China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 21, 6547–6557 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-2542-3

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