Impact of Wastewater Treatment Configuration and Seasonal Conditions on Thyroid Hormone Disruption and Stress Effects in Rana catesbeiana Tailfin

Abstract

Improved endocrine disrupting compound (EDC) removal is desirable in municipal wastewater treatment plants (MWWTPs) although increased removal does not always translate into reduced biological activity. Suitable methods for determining reduction in biological activity of effluents are needed. In order to determine which MWWTPs are the most effective at removing EDC activities, we operated three configurations of pilot sized biological reactors (conventional activated sludge, CAS; nitrifying activated sludge, NAS; and biological nutrient removal, BNR) receiving the same influent under simulated winter and summer conditions. As frogs are model organisms for the study of thyroid hormone (TH) action, we used the North American species Rana catesbeiana in a cultured tadpole tailfin (C-fin) assay to compare the effluents. TH-responsive (thyroid hormone receptors alpha (thra) and beta (thrb)) and stress-responsive (superoxide dismutase, catalase, and heat shock protein 30) mRNA transcript levels were examined. Effluents infrequently perturbed stress-responsive transcript abundance but thra/thrb levels were significantly altered. In winter conditions, CAS caused frequent TH perturbations while BNR caused none. In summer conditions, however, BNR caused substantial TH perturbations while CAS caused few. Our findings contrast other studies of seasonal variations of EDC removal and accentuate the importance of utilizing appropriate biological readouts for assessing EDC activities.

Assessment of the removal of estrogenicity in biological nutrient removal wastewater treatment processes

“…Effluents from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) have been shown to contain a mix of endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) that could induce physiological effects either individually or synergistically on aquatic organisms (Desbrow et al, 1998;Sumpter, 1998;Nakada et al, 2004;Vajda et al, 2011;Wojnarowicz et al, 2013;Parker et al, 2014). The USEPA has defined EDCs as exogenous agents that interfere with the synthesis, secretion, transport, binding action, or elimination of natural hormones in the body that are responsible for the maintenance of homeostasis, reproduction, development, and/or behavior.…”

“…The USEPA has defined EDCs as exogenous agents that interfere with the synthesis, secretion, transport, binding action, or elimination of natural hormones in the body that are responsible for the maintenance of homeostasis, reproduction, development, and/or behavior. Some of the effects of EDCs on aquatic organisms include reduced reproductive capacity and vitellogenin production (precursor of egg yolk protein) in male fish, decreased female fish fertility and survival of juveniles, reduced fish egg fertilization and thyroid hormone disruption in tadpoles (Purdom et al, 1994;Sumpter, 1993, 1998;Andersen et al, 2003;Vajda et al, 2011;Wojnarowicz et al, 2013;Parker et al, 2014).…”

Rethinking the biological relationships of the thyroid hormones, l-thyroxine and 3,5,3′-triiodothyronine

“…Tail fin biopsy cultures were prepared according to methods described previously for the C-fin assay (Wojnarowicz et al, 2013) using premetamorphic (TK stages VI-VIII) R. catesbeiana tadpoles. In brief, thirteen circular 4 mm tailfin biopsies obtained from each animal were exposed to thirteen different treatment conditions in 96-well multi-well culture plates (BD Falcon) containing 200 μL of 1× culture medium per well.…”

“…3). To determine if the observed in vivo hormone-dependent mRNA profiles were tissue-autonomous, we cultured tail fin biopsies under serum-free conditions (C-fin assay; (Wojnarowicz et al, 2013)) to which similar concentrations of T 3 and 5X T 4 were added. TH-associated transcript profiles derived from the C-fin assay were superimposable there as well (Fig.…”

Assessing of channel roughness and temperature variations on wastewater quality parameters using numerical modeling

“…These investigations have not assessed the effects of parameter variations such as temperature and re-aeration on sewage refinement approaches. Contamination can be reduced by increasing wastewater temperatures (Gillian Burger and Wayne Parker 2013; Wojnarowicz et al, 2013) . On the other hand, there are suitable regions where consistent numbers of sunny days naturally provide the desirable opportunity to refine wastewater.…”