Detection of Multiple Hormonal Activities in Wastewater Effluents and Surface Water, Using a Panel of Steroid Receptor CALUX Bioassays

Abstract

It is generally known that there are compounds present in the aquatic environment that can disturb endocrine processes, for example via interaction with the endogenous hormone receptors. Most research so far has focused on compounds that bind to the estrogen and/or androgen receptor, but ligands for other hormone receptors might also be present. In this study, a newly completed panel of human cell derived CALUX reporter gene bioassays was utilized to test water extracts for estrogen (ER), as well as androgen (AR), progesterone (PR), and glucocorticoid (GR) receptor mediated transactivation activity. Effluents from industry, hospital, and municipal sewage treatment plants, as well as tap water and different sources of surface water were tested. The CALUX reporter gene panel showed high sensitivity and specificity to known agonists, enabling discrimination between different receptor based endocrine responses present in the aquatic environment. Our results clearly showed the presence of agonistic activity on the ER, as well as on the AR, PR, and GR in the raw and wastewater and surface water extracts. However, no hormone receptor-mediated transactivation was detected in the drinking water or in the blank water. The levels of estrogenic activity were 0.2-0.5 ng E2-equiv/L for surface water and 0.4-1.0 ng E2-equiv/L for municipal effluents, which was consistent with previous studies. Surprisingly, the other hormonal activities were found to be present in similar or much higher levels. Most notably, glucocorticoid-like activity was detected in all samples, at surprisingly high levels ranging from 0.39-1.3 ng Dex-equiv/L in surface water and 11-243 ng Dex-equiv/L in effluents. When regarding the fact that dexamethasone in the GR CALUX bioassay is a factor 12 more potent than the natural hormone cortisol, results expressed as cortisol equivalents would range up to 2900 ng cortisol equiv/L. Further studies are needed to establish the identity of the active compounds and to understand the significance of the level of activities with regard to human and ecotoxicological risks.

Benchmarking Organic Micropollutants in Wastewater, Recycled Water and Drinking Water with In Vitro Bioassays

“…Specific receptor-mediated modes of action including estrogenic and androgenic effects showed the most promise for routine water quality screening applications. Recent work using GR-CALUX applied to various environmental chemicals and water samples 33 also support our findings that GR activity is present and could be detected in secondary treated effluent with the current battery of GR bioassays. In addition, given the co-occurrence of progestins and synthetic estrogens in hormone replacement therapy, PR activity remains of interest, despite the negative findings here.…”

Screening of multiple hormonal activities in surface water and sediment from the Pearl River system, South China, using effect‐directed in vitro bioassays

“…The androgenic potency in Swedish domestic STP effluents varied from not detected to 160 ng DEQ/L [38], which is slightly higher than the potencies in the four STP effluents from the present study. Androgenic activity was less frequently detected in surface water and sediment of the Pearl River system, which is consistent with the results of some previous studies [13,39,40]. The possible explanation for the lower androgenic activity is that the agonistic androgenic potency might be masked by androgen receptor antagonists in the extracts [12,40].…”

“…Effluents from pulp and paper mills displayed androgenic activity in female fish, leading to masculinization or sex reversal of female fish [10,11]. Very recently, screening assays revealed that androgenic activity also exists widely in industrial and hospital wastewaters, municipal STP effluents, and even in surface water in association with estrogen, progesterone, and glucocorticoid receptor activities [12,13].…”

Emerging contaminants in surface waters and their relevance for the production of drinking water in Europe

“…The issue of endocrine disruption is even more complex as mixtures of compounds with different endocrine effects might enhance or counteract each other or act independent of each other (Brian et al 2005;Houtman et al 2006b;Weiss et al 2009). Several surveys have demonstrated the presence of (anti-) androgens, glucocorticoids, and thyroid hormone activities in the environment (Houtman et al 2004a; Van der Linden et al 2008;Chang et al 2009;Weiss et al 2009). However, thyroid hormone activity was not detected in a survey investigating drinking water prepared from the French river Seine (Jugan et al 2009).…”