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Using an In Vitro Cell Line to Assess Source and Treated Drinking Water Extracts for Estrogenic Activity.
Citation:
Evans, N., K. Schenck, H. Mash, L. Rosenblum, S. Glassmeyer, E. Furlong, D. Kolpin, AND V. Wilson. Using an In Vitro Cell Line to Assess Source and Treated Drinking Water Extracts for Estrogenic Activity. Society of Toxicology (SOT) Annual Meeting, SAN DIEGO, CA, March 22 - 26, 2015.
Impact/Purpose:
NOVEL RESULTS OF AN INTERAGENCY RESEARCH PROJECT ON CONTAMINANTS IN SOURCE AND TREATED DRINKING WATER SAMPLES INCLUDING THE BIOASSAY AND ANALYTICAL CHEMICAL ASSAYS FOR ESTROGENIC CHEMICALS. ALTHOUGH ESTROGENIC CHEMICALS WERE FOUND IN SOURCE WATERS FROM SEVERAL OF 24 WATER TREATMENT PLANTS, NONE OF THE SAMPLES DISPLAYED ESTROGENICITY AFTER TREATMENT AT CONC ABOVE 1 NANOGRAM PER LITER (CLOSE TO THE LOD AND LOQ LEVELS OF THE BIOASSAY)
Description:
While in vitro assays have been used to determine presence of estrogenic activity in many types of water, few studies have evaluated the potential estrogenic activity in source and treated drinking water samples. In a collaborative research study the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists studied source and treated samples collected from drinking water treatment plants (DWTP) across the U.S. For this study, extracts of source and treated water samples from 24 plants were assessed for both estrogenic activity using T47D-KBluc cells, an estrogen receptor-mediated transcriptional activation (ER-TA) assay, and also LC/MS/MS analytical chemistry for about 12 estrogenic analytes. The only estrogenic analyte identified above the minimum reporting limit for the chemistry was estrone, which was present in only 4 source water samples. In the ER-TA assay, however, 16 of the 24 source water extracts had low but detectable estrogenic activity. Importantly, estrogenic activity in the post-treatment extracts was reduced to less than 0.1 ng/L in the ER-TA. The differences in the results of the source water extracts between the ER-TA and the analytical chemistry can likely be explained by the fact that the ER-TA assay detects total estrogenic activity of all estrogenic compounds, not just estrone, and the assay has a lower limit of detection than the analytical chemistry. In conclusion, using both assays allows one to detect very low levels of estrogenic activity and also to identify the chemical(s) contributing to the total activity. Importantly, this study shows that the treatments of drinking water plants are effective at removing estrogenic activity from drinking water. This abstract does not necessarily reflect U.S. EPA policy.