Estrogen breakdown products are disrupting fish hormones in treated sewage water
Cha J, Gwak J, Lee S, Kim M, Lee J
Water Quality
The creek running through your neighborhood park carries hormone-disrupting chemicals from sewage plants upstream, and fish in those waters are absorbing forms of estrogen that standard water-quality testing still doesn't look for.
Scientists tested fish from a South Korean river for hormone-disrupting chemicals and found that the usual suspects, like the estrogen in birth control pills, only explained a small fraction of the hormonal effect they were measuring. When they dug deeper, they discovered that breakdown products of estrogen, compounds formed when the body or the environment processes estrogen, were doing most of the work. These metabolites had slipped under the radar because nobody was testing for them, but they're just as hormonally active as the original compounds.
Key Findings
Well-known estrogens (estrone, E2, estriol, ethinylestradiol) explained only 27% of estrogenic activity in fish muscle and 11% in eggs, leaving the majority of activity unaccounted for.
17-epiestriol, an estrogen breakdown product produced in sediments and transferred to fish, contributed up to 27% of measured estrogenic activity on its own.
A six-step screening workflow identified 14 candidate compounds; 7 of 11 tested were confirmed as newly recognized estrogen receptor agonists, primarily estrogen metabolites and anabolic agents.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Researchers in South Korea found that estrogen metabolites from sewage treatment plants accumulate in freshwater fish and remain hormonally active, accounting for far more of the measured estrogenic contamination than the well-known estrogens scientists typically test for. Two compounds, epiestriol and 17-epiestriol, were largely overlooked until now.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Metabolite-Driven Estrogenic Activity in Freshwater Fish Associated with Sewage Treatment Plant Effluents Revealed by Effect-Directed Analysis and Nontarget Screening.
Major estrogen receptor (ER) agonists were identified in freshwater fish from the Gapcheon River, South Korea, using effect-directed analysis and nontarget screening (NTS). T47D-KBluc bioassays sho...
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