Frontiers in toxicologyPub Date : 2024-10-02eCollection Date: 2024-01-01DOI: 10.3389/ftox.2024.1438890
Jennifer Beth Sass, Nathan Donley, William Freese
{"title":"Neonicotinoid pesticides: evidence of developmental neurotoxicity from regulatory rodent studies.","authors":"Jennifer Beth Sass, Nathan Donley, William Freese","doi":"10.3389/ftox.2024.1438890","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/ftox.2024.1438890","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Neonicotinoids are the most widely used class of insecticides in the United States (U.S.). and the world. Consistent with their high use and persistence, neonicotinoids are often found contaminating drinking water and food. They are also detected in human urine, breast milk, amniotic and cerebrospinal fluids, as well as the brains of treated rodents. Neonicotinoids were once thought to pose little neurotoxic risk to humans, but a growing body of research challenges that assumption. In this study we provide the first comprehensive assessment of unpublished rodent developmental neurotoxicity (DNT) studies on five neonicotinoids that were submitted to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by neonicotinoid manufacturers. Groups of female rats were administered three different doses of a neonicotinoid during pregnancy and lactation, and their offspring subjected to various neurological tests and brain measurements. We identified nicotine-like effects such as reduced brain size, indicative of neuronal cell loss. Statistically significant shrinkage of brain tissue was observed in high-dose offspring for five neonicotinoids: acetamiprid, clothianidin, imidacloprid, thiacloprid, and thiamethoxam. Two brain regions reduced in the rodent studies-the corpus callosum and caudate-putamen-tend to be smaller in people diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and in children of mothers who smoked during pregnancy, suggesting a possible link between perinatal neonicotinoid exposure and ADHD. A decreased auditory startle reflex was reported for acetamiprid at all doses and was statistically significant in the mid- and high-dose offspring, and for clothianidin in juvenile high-dose females. No mid- or low-dose brain morphometric data were submitted for acetamiprid, imidacloprid, or thiacloprid. Thiamethoxam mid- and low-dose brain morphometric data were provided to EPA upon request. Only partial mid-dose brain morphometry data were submitted for clothianidin, but no low-dose data. Yet despite this lack of data, EPA concluded that only the high-dose brain morphometric effects were treatment-related-setting the mid-dose as the study's No Observed Adverse Effect Level (NOAEL) or failing to find a definitive NOAEL for acetamiprid, clothianidin, imidacloprid, thiacloprid and thiamethoxam. We found numerous deficiencies in EPA's regulatory oversight and data analyses. EPA dismissed statistically significant adverse effects, accepted substandard DNT studies despite lack of valid positive control data, and allowed neonicotinoid registrants to unduly influence agency decision-making. We conclude that perinatal exposure to neonicotinoids and their metabolites induces adverse, nicotine-like neurotoxic effects in rodent bioassays, and that the exposure limits set by EPA for human exposure are either not protective or not supported by available neurotoxicity data. We propose regulatory changes to empower EPA to better protect public health f","PeriodicalId":73111,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in toxicology","volume":"6 ","pages":"1438890"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11480014/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142482383","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Frontiers in toxicologyPub Date : 2024-10-01eCollection Date: 2024-01-01DOI: 10.3389/ftox.2024.1469341
Jessica A Camacho, Bonnie Welch, Martine Ferguson, Estatira Sepehr, Cory Vaught, Yang Zhao, Suzanne Fitzpatrick, Jeffrey Yourick, Robert L Sprando, Piper Reid Hunt
{"title":"Assessment of the effects of cannabidiol and a CBD-rich hemp extract in <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i>.","authors":"Jessica A Camacho, Bonnie Welch, Martine Ferguson, Estatira Sepehr, Cory Vaught, Yang Zhao, Suzanne Fitzpatrick, Jeffrey Yourick, Robert L Sprando, Piper Reid Hunt","doi":"10.3389/ftox.2024.1469341","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/ftox.2024.1469341","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Consumer use of cannabidiol (CBD) is growing, but there are still data gaps regarding its possible adverse effects on reproduction and development. Multiple pathways and signaling cascades involved in organismal development and neuronal function, including endocannabinoid synthesis and signaling systems, are well conserved across phyla, suggesting that <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i> can model the <i>in vivo</i> effects of exogenous cannabinoids. The effects in <i>C. elegans</i> on oxidative stress response (OxStrR), developmental timing, juvenile and adult spontaneous locomotor activity, reproductive output, and organismal CBD concentrations were assessed after exposure to purified CBD or a hemp extract suspended in 0.5% sesame oil emulsions. In <i>C. elegans</i>, this emulsion vehicle is equivalent to a high-fat diet (HFD). As in mammals, HFD was associated with oxidative-stress-related gene expression in <i>C. elegans</i> adults. CBD reduced HFD-induced OxStrR in transgenic adults and counteracted the hypoactivity observed in HFD-exposed wild-type adults. In <i>C. elegans</i> exposed to CBD from the onset of feeding, delays in later milestone acquisition were irreversible, while later juvenile locomotor activity effects were reversible after the removal of CBD exposure. CBD-induced reductions in mean juvenile population body size were cumulative when chronic exposures were initiated at parental reproductive maturity. Purified CBD was slightly more toxic than matched concentrations of CBD in hemp extract for all tested endpoints, and both were more toxic to juveniles than to adults. Dosimetry indicated that all adverse effect levels observed in <i>C. elegans</i> far exceeded recommended CBD dosages for humans.</p>","PeriodicalId":73111,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in toxicology","volume":"6 ","pages":"1469341"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11484448/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142482381","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Frontiers in toxicologyPub Date : 2024-10-01eCollection Date: 2024-01-01DOI: 10.3389/ftox.2024.1452838
A J Prussia, C Welsh, T S Somers, P Ruiz
{"title":"Workflow for predictive risk assessments of UVCBs: cheminformatics library design, QSAR, and read-across approaches applied to complex mixtures of metal naphthenates.","authors":"A J Prussia, C Welsh, T S Somers, P Ruiz","doi":"10.3389/ftox.2024.1452838","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/ftox.2024.1452838","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Substances of unknown or variable composition, complex reaction products, and biological materials (UVCBs) are commonly found in the environment. However, assessing their human toxicological risk is challenging due to their variable composition and many constituents. Metal naphthenate salts are one such category of UVCBs that are the reaction products of naphthenic acids with metals to form complex mixtures. Metal naphthenates are often found or used in household and industrial materials with potential for human exposure, but very few of these materials have been evaluated for causing human health hazards. Herein, we evaluate metal naphthenates using predictions derived from read-across and quantitative structure-activity/property relationship (QSAR/QSPR) models. Accordingly, we first built a computational chemistry library by enumerating the structures of naphthenic acids and derived 11,850 QSAR-acceptable structures; then, we used open and commercial <i>in silico</i> tools on these structures to predict a set of physicochemical properties and toxicity endpoints. We then compared the QSAR/QSPR predictions with available experimental data on naphthenic acids to provide a more complete picture of the contributions of the components to the toxicity profiles of metal naphthenate mixtures. The available systematic acute oral toxicity values (LD<sub>50</sub>) and QSAR LD<sub>50</sub> predictions of all the naphthenic acid components indicated low concern for toxicity. The point of departure predictions for chronic repeated dose toxicity for the naphthenic acid components using QSAR models developed from studies on rats ranged from 25 to 50 mg/kg/day. These values are in good agreement with findings from studies on copper and zinc naphthenates, which had no observed adverse effect levels of 30 and 118 mg/kg/day, respectively. Hence, this study demonstrates how published <i>in silico</i> approaches can be used to identify the potential components of metal naphthenates for further testing, inform groupings of UVCBs such as naphthenates, as well as fill the data gaps using read-across and QSAR models to inform risk assessment.</p>","PeriodicalId":73111,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in toxicology","volume":"6 ","pages":"1452838"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11473587/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142482384","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Frontiers in toxicologyPub Date : 2024-09-24eCollection Date: 2024-01-01DOI: 10.3389/ftox.2024.1440331
Lindsey V Parkinson, Birgit Geueke, Jane Muncke
{"title":"Potential mammary carcinogens used in food contact articles: implications for policy, enforcement, and prevention.","authors":"Lindsey V Parkinson, Birgit Geueke, Jane Muncke","doi":"10.3389/ftox.2024.1440331","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/ftox.2024.1440331","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Many nations have food contact material (FCM) legislation purporting to protect citizens from hazardous chemicals, often specifically by regulating genotoxic carcinogens. Despite such regulations, cancers that are associated with harmful chemical exposures are highly prevalent, especially breast cancer. Using the novel Key Characteristics of Toxicants framework, Kay et al. found 921 substances that are potential mammary carcinogens. By comparing Kay et al.'s chemicals list with our own Database on migrating and extractable food contact chemicals (FCCmigex), we found that 189 (21%) of the potential mammary carcinogens have been measured in FCMs. When limiting these results to migration studies published in 2020-2022, 76 potential mammary carcinogens have been detected to migrate from FCMs sold in markets across the globe, under realistic conditions of use. This implies that chronic exposure of the entire population to potential mammary carcinogens from FCMs is the norm and highlights an important, but currently underappreciated opportunity for prevention. Reducing population-wide exposure to potential mammary carcinogens can be achieved by science-based policy amendments addressing the assessment and management of food contact chemicals.</p>","PeriodicalId":73111,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in toxicology","volume":"6 ","pages":"1440331"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-09-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11458522/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142395689","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Frontiers in toxicologyPub Date : 2024-09-18eCollection Date: 2024-01-01DOI: 10.3389/ftox.2024.1464069
Seonggeun Zee, Moonjung Hyun, Hee-Jung Sim, Kanghee Kim, Ju-Chan Kang, Chang-Beom Park
{"title":"Cocktail effects of clothianidin and imidacloprid in zebrafish embryonic development, with high and low concentrations of mixtures.","authors":"Seonggeun Zee, Moonjung Hyun, Hee-Jung Sim, Kanghee Kim, Ju-Chan Kang, Chang-Beom Park","doi":"10.3389/ftox.2024.1464069","DOIUrl":"10.3389/ftox.2024.1464069","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>There is growing concern that sprayed neonicotinoid pesticides (<i>neonics</i>) persist in mixed forms in the environmental soil and water systems, and these concerns stem from reports of increase in both the detection frequency and concentration of these pollutants. To confirm the toxic effects of <i>neonics</i>, we conducted toxicity tests on two <i>neonics</i>, clothianidin (CLO) and imidacloprid (IMD), in embryos of zebrafish. Toxicity tests were performed with two different types of mixtures: potential mixture compounds and realistic mixture compounds. Potential mixtures of CLO and IMD exhibited synergistic effects, in a dose-dependent manner, in zebrafish embryonic toxicity. Realistic mixture toxicity tests that are reflecting the toxic effects of mixture in the aquatic environment were conducted with zebrafish embryos. The toxicity of the CLO and IMD mixture at environmentally-relevant concentrations was confirmed by the alteration of the transcriptional levels of target genes, such as cell damage linked to oxidative stress response and thyroid hormone synthesis related to zebrafish embryonic development. Consequently, the findings of this study can be considered a strategy for examining mixture toxicity in the range of detected environmental concentrations. In particular, our results will be useful in explaining the mode of toxic action of chemical mixtures following short-term exposure. Finally, the toxicity information of CLO and IMD mixtures will be applied for the agricultural environment, as a part of chemical regulation guideline for the use and production of pesticides.</p>","PeriodicalId":73111,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in toxicology","volume":"6 ","pages":"1464069"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11445189/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142367701","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Overview of human health effects related to glyphosate exposure.","authors":"Flavia Silvia Galli, Marta Mollari, Valentina Tassinari, Cristian Alimonti, Alessandro Ubaldi, Camilla Cuva, Daniele Marcoccia","doi":"10.3389/ftox.2024.1474792","DOIUrl":"10.3389/ftox.2024.1474792","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Glyphosate is a chemical compound derived from glycine, marketed as a broad-spectrum herbicide, and represents one of the most widely used pesticides in the world. For a long time, it was assumed that glyphosate was harmless, either due to its selective enzymatic acting method on plants, and because commercial formulations were believed to contain only inert chemicals. Glyphosate is widely spread in the environment, the general population is daily exposed to it via different routes, including the consumption of both plant, and non-plant based foods. Glyphosate has been detected in high amounts in workers' urine, but has been detected likewise in bodily fluids, such as blood and maternal milk, and also in 60%-80% of general population, including children. Considering its massive presence, daily exposure to glyphosate could be considered a health risk for humans. Indeed, in 2015, the IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer) classified glyphosate and its derivatives in Group 2A, as probable human carcinogens. In 2022, nevertheless, EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) stated that the available data did not provide sufficient evidence to prove the mutagenic/carcinogenic effects of glyphosate. Therefore, the European Commission (EC) decided to renew the approval of glyphosate for another 10 years. The purpose of this review is to examine the scientific literature, focusing on potential risks to human health arising from exposure to glyphosate, its metabolites and its commercial products (e.g., Roundup<sup>®</sup>), with particular regard to its mutagenic and carcinogenic potential and its effects as endocrine disrupter (ED) especially in the human reproductive system.</p>","PeriodicalId":73111,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in toxicology","volume":"6 ","pages":"1474792"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11445186/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142367702","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Twenty years of <i>in vitro</i> nanotoxicology: how AI could make the difference.","authors":"Luisa Campagnolo, Valentina Lacconi, Joanna Filippi, Eugenio Martinelli","doi":"10.3389/ftox.2024.1470439","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/ftox.2024.1470439","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>More than two decades ago, the advent of Nanotechnology has marked the onset of a new and critical field in science and technology, highlighting the importance of multidisciplinary approaches to assess and model the potential human hazard of newly developed advanced materials in the nanoscale, the nanomaterials (NMs). Nanotechnology is, by definition, a multidisciplinary field, that integrates knowledge and techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, materials science, and engineering to manipulate matter at the nanoscale, defined as anything comprised between 1 and 100 nm. The emergence of nanotechnology has undoubtedly led to significant innovations in many fields, from medical diagnostics and targeted drug delivery systems to advanced materials and energy solutions. However, the unique properties of nanomaterials, such as the increased surface to volume ratio, which provides increased reactivity and hence the ability to penetrate biological barriers, have been also considered as potential risk factors for unforeseen toxicological effects, stimulating the scientific community to investigate to which extent this new field of applications could pose a risk to human health and the environment.</p>","PeriodicalId":73111,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in toxicology","volume":"6 ","pages":"1470439"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11457712/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142395690","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Frontiers in toxicologyPub Date : 2024-09-17eCollection Date: 2024-01-01DOI: 10.3389/ftox.2024.1450612
Panagiotis G Karamertzanis, Martina Evangelisti, Marco Daniele Parenti, Jochen Vom Brocke, Alberto Del Rio, Ingo Bichlmaier
{"title":"A new database contains 520 studies investigating the carcinogenicity data of 238 pharmaceuticals across 14 ATC classifications.","authors":"Panagiotis G Karamertzanis, Martina Evangelisti, Marco Daniele Parenti, Jochen Vom Brocke, Alberto Del Rio, Ingo Bichlmaier","doi":"10.3389/ftox.2024.1450612","DOIUrl":"10.3389/ftox.2024.1450612","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":73111,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in toxicology","volume":"6 ","pages":"1450612"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11442431/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142360729","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Frontiers in toxicologyPub Date : 2024-09-16eCollection Date: 2024-01-01DOI: 10.3389/ftox.2024.1481385
Peter Y Liu
{"title":"Light pollution: time to consider testicular effects.","authors":"Peter Y Liu","doi":"10.3389/ftox.2024.1481385","DOIUrl":"10.3389/ftox.2024.1481385","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Technological advances have led to a modern-day lighting and smartphone revolution, with artificial light exposure at night increasing to levels never before seen in the evolutionary history of living systems on Earth. Light as a pollutant, however, remains largely unrecognized, and the reproductive effects of light pollution are mostly if not entirely unconsidered. This is despite the reproductive system being intricately linked to metabolism and the circadian system, both of which can be disturbed even by low levels of light. Here, we aim to change this perspective by reviewing the physiological and pathophysiological mechanisms by which light exposure alters the intricate hormonal, metabolic and reproductive networks that are relevant to reproductive toxicology. Nascent human studies have recently identified the photoreceptors responsible for the light dose relationship with melatonin suppression and circadian re-entrainment, directly shown the association between the alignment of light-dark cycles with activity-rest cycles on metabolic health and provided proof-of-principle that properly timed blue light-enriched and blue light-depleted delivery can accelerate circadian re-entrainment. With these advances, there is now a need to consider testicular effects of light pollution.</p>","PeriodicalId":73111,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in toxicology","volume":"6 ","pages":"1481385"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11439877/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142333857","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Frontiers in toxicologyPub Date : 2024-09-16eCollection Date: 2024-01-01DOI: 10.3389/ftox.2024.1439126
N H Aneck-Hahn, M C Van Zijl, L Quinn, C Swiegelaar, N Nhlapo, W de Bruin, L Korsten
{"title":"The use of <i>in vitro</i> bioassays and chemical screening to assess the impact of a minimally processed vegetable facility on wastewater quality.","authors":"N H Aneck-Hahn, M C Van Zijl, L Quinn, C Swiegelaar, N Nhlapo, W de Bruin, L Korsten","doi":"10.3389/ftox.2024.1439126","DOIUrl":"10.3389/ftox.2024.1439126","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Fruit- and vegetable-processing facilities may contaminate wastewater via contaminants found in the produce and disinfecting chemicals used. These contaminants may include agrochemicals, pesticides, and disinfectants such as chlorine and quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs). Some compounds may exhibit harmful endocrine-disrupting activity. This study investigated the impact of a minimally processed vegetable facility on wastewater quality via <i>in vitro</i> bioassays and chemical screening. Estrogen activity was assessed via a yeast estrogen screen (YES), and (anti-)androgenic and glucocorticoid activities were evaluated via an MDA-kb2 reporter gene assay. The samples were screened via gas and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS and LC-MS/MS) to identify target compounds, and GC coupled with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC-TOFMS) was used for non-targeted screening. Sample complexity and chemical profiles were assessed using GC-TOFMS. Estrogenic activity was detected in 16 samples (n = 24) with an upper limit of 595 ± 37 ng/L estradiol equivalents (EEqs). The final wastewater before discharge had an EEq of 0.23 ng/L, which is within the ecological effect-based trigger value range for the estrogenic activity of wastewater (0.2-0.4 ng/L EEq). Androgenic activity was detected in one sample with a dihydrotestosterone equivalent (DHTEq) value of 10 ± 2.7 ng/L. No antiandrogenic activity was detected. The GC-MS/MS and LC-MS/MS results indicated the presence of multiple pesticides, nonylphenols, triclocarban, and triclosan. Many of these compounds exhibit estrogenic activity, which may explain the positive YES assay findings. These findings showed that wastewater from the facility contained detergents, disinfectants, and pesticides and displayed hormonal activity. Food-processing facilities release large volumes of wastewater, which may affect the quality of the water eventually being discharged into the environment. We recommend expanding conventional water quality monitoring efforts to include additional factors like endocrine activity and disinfectant byproducts.</p>","PeriodicalId":73111,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in toxicology","volume":"6 ","pages":"1439126"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11439871/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142333858","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}