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Pathway level impacts of in situ exposure of fathead minnow to effluent mixtures in the Duluth harbor
Citation:
Garcia-Reyero, N., D. Villeneuve, L. Escalon, T. Habib, G. Ankley, E. Durhan, M. Kahl, K. Jensen, J. Cavallin, J. Berninger, AND E. Perkins. Pathway level impacts of in situ exposure of fathead minnow to effluent mixtures in the Duluth harbor. Presented at Society for environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, November 11 - 15, 2012.
Impact/Purpose:
not applicable
Description:
There is a major effort to characterize the potential adverse effects of effluents released from sewage treatment plants in North America. At many locations pharmaceuticals, endocrine disruptors, and other chemicals of emerging concerns are present in the environment at concentrations capable of altering physiological processes in wildlife. In order to elucidate the effects of sewage treatment plants on wildlife, fathead minnows were caged in situ at several locations at the Duluth (MN) harbor, proximal and distal from the wastewater treatment plant discharge location. Fish were also exposed in the laboratory to 100% of effluent as a positive control. Several endpoints such as steroid hormones, vitellogenin, transcriptomics and metabolomics were analyzed. We applied a pathway level approach to understand the effects of the discharge as well as the potential dilution of the adverse effects at distal locations. Effects on gene expression were very similar for the different locations, with a higher amount of changes for the 100% effluent and the higher intensity for fish exposed to locations closer to the discharge site. Changes in gene expression were involved in pathways related to cytochrome P450s, hypoxia inducible factor, neurological function, or embryonic development among others. While distance from the discharge site decreased the effects on gene expression, pathway analysis was very effective in detecting the potential adverse effects of the discharge.