scholarly journals An Overview of the Glucocorticoids’ Pathways in the Environment and Their Removal Using Conventional Wastewater Treatment Systems

Pollutants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 141-155
Author(s):  
Munshi Md. Shafwat Yazdan ◽  
Md Tanvir Ahad ◽  
Zayed Mallick ◽  
Synthia Parveen Mallick ◽  
Ishrat Jahan ◽  
...  

Numerous micropollutants, especially endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs), can pollute natural aquatic environments causing great concern for human and ecosystem health. While most of the conversation revolves around estrogen and androgen, glucocorticoids (GCs) are also prevalent in natural waters. Despite the fact that GCs play a crucial role in both inflammatory and immunologic development activities, they are also detected in natural waters and considered as one of the EDCs. Although many researchers have mentioned the adverse effect of GCs on aquatic organisms, a complete management technology to remove these pollutants from surface and coastal waters is yet to be established. In the current study, six glucocorticoids (prednisone, prednisolone, cortisone, cortisol, dexamethasone, and 6R-methylprednisolone) have been selected according to their higher detection frequency in environmental waters. The concentration of selected GCs ranged from 0.05 ng/L to 433 ng/L and their removal efficiency ranged from 10% to 99% depending on the water source and associated removal technologies. Although advanced technologies are available for achieving successful removal of GCs, associated operational and economic considerations make implementation of these processes unsustainable. Further studies are necessary to resolve the entry routes of GCs compounds into the surface water or drinking water permanently as well as employ sustainable detection and removal technologies.

2015 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Rykowska ◽  
W. Wasiak

AbstractConcern for the natural environment increasingly devotes more attention to growing potential hazards resulting from the release of various substances. Currently, one of the main problems associated with environmental pollution is the derivation of organic compounds from wastewater. Substances derived from sewage leaks into the environment in the form of a multicomponent mixtures often enhances the toxic effects caused by these compounds. While analyzing the reports in the literature of the last two decades it can be seen that substantial efforts are devoted to the determination of selected trace contaminants present in wastewater. Among the most marked there are endocrine disrupting compounds, residues of pharmaceuticals and personal care products, plastics and sunscreens. Recently, a new group of compounds joined the aforementioned contaminants, namely drugs, whose legality and availability is increasing every year. Exposure to these type of compounds, named in the literature as emerging contaminants (ECs), involves, among others, such effects as hormonal imbalance, reduction of the survivability of aquatic organisms and reproductive problems. This paper provides a review of the types of emerging organic groundwater contaminants (EGCs) which are beginning to be found in the natural environment in many countries all around the world.


2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-20
Author(s):  
Rita Verma ◽  
Atul K. Singh ◽  
Kamal Jaiswal

Effects of EDCs particularly on RNA/DNA ratio are yet to be investigated to manage the effluents in natural waters. We investigated exposure effects of endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) phthalic acid ester (PAE) and hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) on the RNA/DNA ratio in tissue of an Indian major carp Labeo rohita. Fish were exposed to pre-determined sublethal concentrations of phthalic acid ester (Di-methyl phthalate (DMP), di-butyl phthalate (DBP), and di-(2- ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) and also HCH for determining the tissue RNA/DNA ratio after 30, 60 and 90 days of exposure in the doses of 0.2 mg L-1, 0.3 mg L-1, and 0.5 mg L-1 respectively. All these tested chemicals significantly (P0.05) inhibited RNA/DNA ratio. The ratio gradually significantly (P0.05) decreased after DEHP where it was 1.9±0.51 F1, 18=15.8 P=0.014 n=19; in case of DBP it was 1.92±0.62 F1, 20=6.5 P=0.012 n=19 and for HCH it was 0.94±0.21 F1, 18=18.08 P=0.0012 n=19 at treatments concentrations of 0.3 mg L-1 and 0.5 mg L-1, compared to control (2.9±0.2) after 90 days. However, there was no statistical significance (P0.05) in RNA/DNA ratio after the DMP (F1, 20=2.4 P=0.15n=21) treatment.


Author(s):  
Kouakou Yao Salomon ◽  
N’doufou Gnosseith Huberson Claver ◽  
Akpo Kouakou Sylvain

Endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs), including Alkylphenols and their ethoxylates, precisely Nonylphenol and its ethoxylates, are organic molecules that are of greatest current concern because of their ability to have a toxic or an inhibitory effect on living organisms by their presence or accumulation in environment such as water, sediments, soils and atmosphere. They are used in the production of surfactants, industrial formulations, pharmaceuticals, personal care products etc... The primary objective of this article is to review the literature concerning classification of Nonylphenol and its ethoxylates based on physical and chemical characteristics and technical feasibility of their usages. It also involved different ways of their introduction into environment, analytical methods (HPLC, GC-MS, GC-MS-TOF) for their environmental detection and quantification, and finally methods for their removal. Technologies proposed for nonylphenol and its ethoxylates degradation includes biodegradation, physical processes, conventional and non-conventional adsorption-oriented processes and photodegradation processes including photocatalytic oxidation which have a potential to reach complete mineralization.


Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 2628 ◽  
Author(s):  
Griselda Marissa Calderón-Moreno ◽  
Josefina Vergara-Sánchez ◽  
Hugo Saldarriaga-Noreña ◽  
Maria Luisa García-Betancourt ◽  
Martha Lilia Domínguez-Patiño ◽  
...  

In this study, two hormones 17β-estradiol (E2) and 17α-ethynylestradiol (EE2), and three phenolic compounds, bisphenol A (BPA), 4-N-nonylphenol (4-NP) and 4-tert-octylphenol (4-t-OP), were determined in surface water in the Cuautla River at the State of Morelos during the dry-season in Mexico. The endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) were extracted from water samples using solid-phase extraction (SPE) with end-capped C18, and then the extracts were chemically derivatized to TMS (trimethylsylane)-compounds and analyzed by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GCMS). The most abundant compound was BPA (22.46 ± 30.17 ng L−1), followed by 4-t-OP (11.24 ± 11.76 ng L−1), 4-NP (7.53 ± 14.88 ng L−1), EE2 (2.37 ± 4.36 ng L−1) and E2 (0.97 ± 1.82 ng L−1). The residual amounts of target compounds could either reach stream surface water from direct domestic wastewater discharges, conventional wastewater treatment plant or can be a result from the use of agrochemicals in crop areas. The EDCs in Cuautla River exerted a high pressure on the aquatic ecosystem because their presences in surface water caused medium and high potential ecological risk. Besides, it was found that aquatic organisms were exposed to estrogenic activity.


2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 151-158
Author(s):  
Mahrokh Forghani ◽  
Gholamreza Sadeghi ◽  
Mazyar Peyda

Endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs) as active biological compounds can pose a threat to the environment through acute and chronic toxicity in organisms, accumulation in the ecosystem, and loss of habitats and biodiversity. They also have a range of possible adverse effects on environmental and ecological health. Estradiol, as one of the natural estrogenic hormones released by the humans and livestock, may exert endocrine-disrupting effects on the nanogram-per-liter range and cause serious problems for the aquatic organisms and animals in many aquatic systems. Various studies have reported the presence of synthetic estrogens such as 17 alpha-ethinyl estradiol (EE2) and natural estrogens including 17 beta-estradiol (E2) in wastewater sludge, surface water, river bed sediment, and also digested and activated sludge. The aim of the present study was to review and evaluate the endocrine disrupting compounds especially 17 beta-estradiol, as a representative of estrogen hormones present in the environment and their disturbing effects on humans and wildlife.


2003 ◽  
Vol 3 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 321-327 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Gallenkemper ◽  
T. Wintgens ◽  
T. Melin

Endocrine disrupting compounds can affect the hormone system in organisms. A wide range of endocrine disrupters were found in sewage and effluents of municipal wastewater treatment plants. Toxicological evaluations indicate that conventional wastewater treatment plants are not able to remove these substances sufficiently before disposing effluent into the environment. Membrane technology, which is proving to be an effective barrier to these substances, is the subject of this research. Nanofiltration provides high quality permeates in water and wastewater treatment. Eleven different nanofiltration membranes were tested in the laboratory set-up. The observed retention for nonylphenol (NP) and bisphenol A (BPA) ranged between 70% and 100%. The contact angle is an indicator for the hydrophobicity of a membrane, whose influence on the permeability and retention of NP was evident. The retention of BPA was found to be inversely proportional to the membrane permeability.


Author(s):  
Hanna Katarina Lilith Johansson ◽  
Camilla Taxvig ◽  
Gustav Peder Mohr Olsen ◽  
Terje Svingen

Abstract Early ovary development is considered to be largely hormone independent, yet there are associations between fetal exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals and reproductive disorders in women. This can potentially be explained by perturbations to establishment of ovarian endocrine function rather than interference with an already established hormone system. In this study we explore if Hedgehog (HH) signaling, a central pathway for correct ovary development, can be disrupted by exposure to HH-disrupting chemicals, using the antifungal itraconazole as model compound. In the mouse Leydig cell line TM3, used as a proxy for ovarian theca cells, itraconazole exposure had a suppressing effect on genes downstream of HH signaling, such as Gli1. Exposing explanted rat ovaries (gestational day 22 or postnatal day 3) to 30 µM itraconazole for 72 h induced significant suppression of genes in the HH signaling pathway with altered Ihh, Gli1, Ptch1, and Smo expression similar to those previously observed in Ihh/Dhh knock-out mice. Exposing rat dams to 50 mg/kg bw/day in the perinatal period did not induce observable changes in the offspring’s ovaries. Overall, our results suggest that HH signal disruptors may affect ovary development with potential long-term consequences for female reproductive health. However, potent HH inhibitors would likely cause severe teratogenic effects at doses lower than those causing ovarian dysgenesis, so the concern with respect to reproductive disorder is for the presence of HH disruptors at low concentration in combination with other ovary or endocrine disrupting compounds.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document