Endocrine Responses of Fundulus Heteroclitus to Effluent From a Bleached-Kraft Pulp Mill Before and After Installation of Reverse Osmosis Treatment of a Waste Stream

Abstract

Abstract-Implementation of process changes on the nonbleaching side of bleached kraft pulp mill (BKPM) operations has increased in recent years to maximize resource use and to minimize residual environmental effects of discharged effluents. The objective of this study was to determine if reverse osmosis (RO) treatment of evaporator and digester clean condensates reduced or removed the effects of a BKPM effluent on reproductive endocrine function of the estuarine killifish, Fundulus heteroclitus (mummichog).Comparison of data collected before (1997) and after (1998), the years of the process change, showed that the potential of the combined mill effluent to depress plasma testosterone levels after 30 and 57 d of exposure to an environmentally relevant effluent concentration (1%) was reduced after RO treatment of condensates. However, in vitro production of some sex steroids was depressed with a 1% effluent exposure after the process change. In addition, in 1998, depression of plasma testosterone levels in effluentexposed fish was present at higher effluent concentrations (5%). These results are significant because they suggest that condensates may be a source of endocrine-disrupting compounds in BKPM effluents and RO may reduce their discharge.

Detectable effect size and bioassay power of mummichog (Fundulus heteroclitus) and fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas) adult reproductive tests

“…No differences in somatic estradiol concentrations were observed in female mummichog or FHM (IPP1), while 11-ketotestosterone levels were only increased in mummichog in 3% effluent. This particular PME has previously been associated with endocrine responses [27,32]. Mean (61 standard error of the mean) length, weight, gonadosomatic index (GSI), liver somatic index (LSI), and condition factor (K) of adult Pimephales promelas exposed to pulp mill effluent for 21 a Males (M) exposed to 30% effluent had greater condition than did controls and fish exposed to 10% effluent ( p 5 0.02).…”

Investigation of de novo cholesterol synthetic capacity in the gonads of goldfish (Carassius auratus) exposed to the phytosterol beta-sitosterol

“…Radio-labelled [1,2,6,7- 3 H]-testosterone was purchased from Amersham-Pharmacia (Baie d'Urfé, QC, Canada). Antibodies to T were purchased from Medicorp (Montreal, QC, Canada) and cross-reactivity is reported as 35% with dehydroepitestosterone and <0.1% with other major steroids [23]. Both intra- and inter-assay variability were within acceptable limits (< 10%).…”

Reproductive Disruption in Wild Longear Sunfish ( Lepomis megalotis ) Exposed to Kraft Mill Effluent

“…Significant hormonal effects occur when mill effluents constitute ≥ 1% (volume) of the receiving environment (Dube and MacLatchy 2000; Sepulveda et al 2002). The Bogalusa Mill is an elemental chlorine-free mill with secondary treatment, but longear sunfish in the receiving stream experience reproductive suppression, particularly when effluent flow equals or exceeds 1% of river flow.…”

“…Wild fish in KME-receiving waters in Canada, Scandinavia, and the United States experience several kinds of reproductive perturbations: reproductive suppression in both sexes (Dube and MacLatchy 2000; Karels et al 2001; McMaster et al 1996; Sepulveda et al 2002), masculinization of females (Bortone and Davis 1994), or male-skewed sex ratios in exposed fry (Larsson and Forlin 2002). …”