Environmental sciences : an international journal of environmental physiology and toxicology最新文献

{"title":"Detection and assessment of androgenic potency of endocrine-disrupting chemicals using three-spined stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus.","authors":"Masaki Nagae,&nbsp;Fumie Kawasaki,&nbsp;Yuka Tanaka,&nbsp;Nobuyuki Ohkubo,&nbsp;Takahiro Matsubara,&nbsp;Kiyoshi Soyano,&nbsp;Akihiko Hara,&nbsp;Koji Arizono,&nbsp;Alexander P Scott,&nbsp;Ioanna Katsiadaki","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The male three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) produces a glue protein named \"spiggin\" that is used as a cementing substance for building its nest. The synthesis of spiggin is under the control of androgenic stimulation. Therefore, spiggin is an effective biomarker of any androgenic activity displayed by environmental chemicals, similarly to the use of vitellogenin as an estrogenic biomarker. The aim of this study was to establish a quantification system for spiggin mRNA to develop a highly sensitive system for evaluating environmental androgens. In this process, two different types of cDNA encoding spiggin (SPG-1 and SPG-2) were isolated. They closely resemble each other in primary structure and features. In addition, the transcriptions of both spiggin gene were induced by only androgenic stimulation in a receptor-mediated manner. These findings suggest the multiplicity albeit specificity of spiggin in the stickleback. The quantification system for spiggin mRNA was established using a real-time RT-PCR technique. This system enables accurate quantification within a wide range of spiggin mRNA from 10(1) to 10(6) copies.</p>","PeriodicalId":87178,"journal":{"name":"Environmental sciences : an international journal of environmental physiology and toxicology","volume":"14 5","pages":"255-61"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41008503","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Biological treatment of estrogenic substances.","authors":"Akiko Miya,&nbsp;Kensuke Onda,&nbsp;Yumiko Nakamura,&nbsp;Chikako Takatoh,&nbsp;Yosei Katsu,&nbsp;Toshihiro Tanaka","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The fate and behavior of estrogenic substances in various biological wastewater treatment processes and several advanced sewage treatment processes were examined. The removal of 17beta-estradiol (E2), estrone (E1) and estriol (E3) was investigated by using a pilot-scale activated sludge plant supplied with domestic sewage. Several sewage treatment plants adopting the activated sludge process were evaluated for the removal of estrogenic substances using an in vitro recombinant yeast assay and chemical analysis. The results indicated that E2 significantly contributed to estrogen-like activity particularly in secondary treated effluents. The removal rate of E2 was found to be sufficiently high throughout a one-year study on estrogens in domestic sewage, whereas E1 often remained in the effluent. The optimization of operational conditions based on E1 removal is important for reducing estrogenic activity in treated water.</p>","PeriodicalId":87178,"journal":{"name":"Environmental sciences : an international journal of environmental physiology and toxicology","volume":"14 2","pages":"89-94"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"26790920","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"In vitro evaluation of atmospheric particulate matter and sedimentation particles using yeast bioassay system.","authors":"Taiki Mori,&nbsp;Makiko Inudo,&nbsp;Yuji Takao,&nbsp;Minoru Koga,&nbsp;Takehiro Takemasa,&nbsp;Ryota Shinohara,&nbsp;Koji Arizono","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Little information on the evaluation of airborne particulate matter (APM) and sedimentation particles from subway stations is available. The thermal metamorphism of train wheels generating toxic particles in subway stations is a possibility. In this study, the toxicity and physiological effects of particles from subway stations were evaluated using a yeast bioassay system. Estrogenic and antiestrogenic activities of APM in APM extracts from subway stations were determined. No estrogenic activity was found in the APM fractions and their S9-activated APM samples. Sedimentation dust samples also showed no estrogen activity. In contrast, extracts from sedimentation dust samples showed antiestrogen activity. Marked yeast toxicity was observed in the samples extracted from sedimentation dust. Potent yeast toxicity was also found in the S9-activated extracts from sedimentation dust. The results suggest that sedimentation dust from a semiclosed area of a subway system has antiestrogen activity, although both the origin and generation system of this activity are uncertain. These pollutants in sedimentation dust may change to a more toxic form in vivo by S9 activation.</p>","PeriodicalId":87178,"journal":{"name":"Environmental sciences : an international journal of environmental physiology and toxicology","volume":"14 4","pages":"203-10"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"26949273","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Investigating potential for effects of environmental endocrine disrupters on wild populations of amphibians in UK and Japan: status of historical databases and review of methods.","authors":"Daniel B Pickford,&nbsp;Severine Larroze,&nbsp;Minoru Takase,&nbsp;Naoko Mitsui,&nbsp;Osamu Tooi,&nbsp;Noriaki Santo","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Concern over global declines among amphibians has resulted in increased interest in the effects of environmental contaminants on amphibian populations, and more recently, this has stimulated research on the potential adverse effects of environmental endocrine disrupters in amphibians. Laboratory studies of the effects of single chemicals on endocrine-relevant endpoints in amphibian, mainly anuran, models are valuable in characterizing sensitivity at the individual level and may yield useful bioassays for screening chemicals for endocrine toxicity (for example, thyroid disrupting activity). Nevertheless, in the UK and Japan as in many other countries, it has yet to be demonstrated unequivocally that the exposure of native amphibians to endocrine disrupting environmental contaminants results in adverse effects at the population level. Assessing the potential of such effects is likely to require an ecoepidemiological approach to investigate associations between predicted or actual exposure of amphibians to (endocrine disrupting) environmental contaminants and biologically meaningful responses at the population level. In turn, this demands recent but relatively long-term population trend data. We review two potential sources of such data for widespread UK anurans that could be used in such investigations: records for common frogs and common toads in several databases maintained by the Biological Records Centre (UK Government Centre for Ecology and Hydrology), and adult toad count data from 'Toads on Roads' schemes registered with the UK wildlife charity 'Froglife'. There were little abundance data in the BRC databases that could be used for this purpose, while count data from the Toads on Roads schemes is potentially confounded by the effects of local topology on the detection probabilities and operation of nonchemical anthropogenic stressors. For Japan, local and regional surveys of amphibians and national ecological censuses gathering amphibian data were reviewed to compile survey methodologies and these were compared with methods used in the UK and other countries. Substantial consensus exists in amphibian survey methodologies and this should be exploited in the initiation of coordinated monitoring programs for widespread and common anuran amphibians in Japan and the UK to generate long-term robust and standardized population trend data. Such data would support comparative ecoepidemiological assessments of the impact of environmental endocrine disrupters in these two cooperating countries.</p>","PeriodicalId":87178,"journal":{"name":"Environmental sciences : an international journal of environmental physiology and toxicology","volume":"14 6","pages":"297-317"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"27103329","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Suppression of formation of dioxins in combustion gas of municipal waste incinerators by spray water injection.","authors":"Eiji Kubota,&nbsp;Toru Shigechi,&nbsp;Takehiro Takemasa,&nbsp;Satoru Momoki,&nbsp;Koji Arizono","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Dioxins in the combustion gas of municipal solid waste incinerators (MSWIs) are resynthesized when the combustion gas passes from the outlet exaust gas boiler to the outlet gas duct. The objective of the study was to estimate if the suppression of the formation of dioxins depends on the inlet gas temperature and diameter and/or temperature of droplet spray water using an actual incinerator operation data. The dioxin formation and/or the quenching temperature is revealed using the Altwicker theory equation with the information of inlet gas temperature and droplet spray water. The evaporation rate of a spray water droplet also can be estimated using the Mizutani theory. The highest dioxin formation was found at 350 degrees C; thereafter, it decreased quickly. When an area of 500 microm for droplet-formed dioxins is defined as 100%, the values of formed dioxins for 400, 300, 200 and 100 microm droplet areas are estimated as 71, 41, 25 and 18%, respectively. It is revealed that the smaller size of droplet spray water and lower inlet gas temperature enable the decrease in dioxin formation. The decreased dioxin formation and/or the lower quenching temperature is revealed using the Altwicker theory equation with the information of inlet gas temperature and droplet spray water size.</p>","PeriodicalId":87178,"journal":{"name":"Environmental sciences : an international journal of environmental physiology and toxicology","volume":"14 Suppl ","pages":"89-95"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"27359355","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Initial ecological risk assessment of eight selected human pharmaceuticals in Japan.","authors":"Hiroshi Yamamoto,&nbsp;Yudai Nakamura,&nbsp;Yuki Nakamura,&nbsp;Chise Kitani,&nbsp;Tetsuya Imari,&nbsp;Jun Sekizawa,&nbsp;Yuji Takao,&nbsp;Naoyuki Yamashita,&nbsp;Narisato Hirai,&nbsp;Shigeto Oda,&nbsp;Norihisa Tatarazako","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Eight pharmaceuticals were selected on the basis of their domestic consumption in Japan, the excretion ratio of the parent compound and the frequency of detection in the aquatic environment or wastewater treatment plant effluent. Toxicity tests on these pharmaceuticals were conducted using Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes), daphnia (Daphnia magna), and green algae (Psuedokirchneriella subcapitata). Predicted no effect concentration (PNEC) was calculated using lethal or effect concentration 50 (LC50 or EC50) values and no effect concentration (NOEC) obtained in the toxicity tests for these compounds. Predicted environmental concentration (PEC) was also calculated from annual consumption, the excretion rate of the parent compound, and removal rate in the preliminary batch activated sludge treatment performed in this study. Maximum concentrations found in the aquatic environment or sewage effluent in Japan or foreign countries were also used for another calculation of PEC. Initial risk assessment on the selected pharmaceuticals was performed using the PEC/PNEC ratio. The results of initial risk assessment on the eight selected pharmaceuticals suggest neither urgent nor severe concern for the ecological risk of these compounds, but further study needs to be conducted using chronic toxicity tests, including reproduction inhibition and endocrine disruption assessments.</p>","PeriodicalId":87178,"journal":{"name":"Environmental sciences : an international journal of environmental physiology and toxicology","volume":"14 4","pages":"177-93"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"26949270","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Enhancement of root respiration and photosynthesis in Quercus serrata Thunb. seedlings by long-term aluminum treatment.","authors":"Rie Tomioka,&nbsp;Chisato Takenaka","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In this article, we discuss the effects of long-term (17 months) aluminum (Al) treatment on the growth, root respiration rate, nutrient uptake rate, and photosynthetic activity of two-year-old Quercus serrata Thunb. seedlings. The seedlings were cultivated by supplying a nutrient solution with or without Al twice a week for 17 months in siliceous sand. After 5- and 17-month treatments, growth, root respiration rate, photosynthetic activity, and the concentration of minerals in the roots and leaves were measured. Al treatment for 5 and 17 months markedly enhanced the growth and photosynthetic activity, and Al treatment for 17 months stimulated the root respiration rate. Although Al treatment for 17 months significantly decreased the Ca, Mg, and P concentrations in leaves, this decrease did not cause deficiency symptoms because of significant increases in shoot biomass and photosynthetic activity. The results of this study reveal that an increase in photosynthetic activity supports growth enhancement induced by Al treatment in Q. serrata seedlings, and suggest that Al may act as a trigger in activating some metabolic functions that can induce growth.</p>","PeriodicalId":87178,"journal":{"name":"Environmental sciences : an international journal of environmental physiology and toxicology","volume":"14 3","pages":"141-8"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"26823809","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Estrogen content and relative performance of Japanese and British sewage treatment plants and their potential impact on endocrine disruption.","authors":"Andrew Johnson,&nbsp;Hiroaki Tanaka,&nbsp;Yuji Okayasu,&nbsp;Yutaka Suzuki","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Both the UK and Japan are densely populated islands with relatively short rivers. Therefore, both countries are likely to be highly exposed to contaminants emanating from their human populations. This review considered how effective the different sewage treatment facilities of the two countries are at removing steroid estrogens from the effluent. The methods of estrogen analysis in sewage effluent, the number and importance of different sewage treatment types, and their apparent effectiveness at removing estrogens were all considered. In both countries, the activated sludge treatment was dominant in terms of people served and water discharged. The analytical techniques used by those studying estrogen concentrations in effluents in both countries were broadly similar. Activated sludge plant (ASP) effluent in the UK typically contained around 2 ng/L estradiol (E2) and 8 ng/L estrone (E1), while Japanese ASPs typically reported E2 as below detection, and 10 ng/L E1 in their effluents. When estrogenic bioassays were used in Japan, they typically record an estrogenic potency of 10 ng/L E2 equivalents. Even taking into account ethinylestradiol (EE2) (not found in Japanese effluents), the overall estrogenicity of British sewage effluents would appear to be the same as that of Japanese sewage effluents (around 10 ng/L E2 equivalents). This suggests that the ASPs serving the large urban communities in Japan and the UK would have effluent of similar estrogenic potencies. Less information is available about the more numerous biological (trickling) filter plants (BFP) in the UK and oxygen ditches (OD) in Japan which tend to serve smaller, more rural communities. The available data would suggest that the BFPs are significantly less efficient than the ODs at removing E1. This would suggest that in similar circumstances, British headwaters (where this sewage treatment plant (STP) type is often found) might be more at risk from endocrine disruption than their Japanese counterparts. Overall, the apparently higher incidence of endocrine disruption in British wild fish than in Japanese wild fish cannot be attributed to differences in the efficiency of their respective STPs.</p>","PeriodicalId":87178,"journal":{"name":"Environmental sciences : an international journal of environmental physiology and toxicology","volume":"14 6","pages":"319-29"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"27103330","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Toxicity assessment of wastewater by proteomics analysis.","authors":"Junkyu Han,&nbsp;Mikako Takenaka,&nbsp;Terence P N Talorete,&nbsp;Naoyuki Funamizu,&nbsp;Hiroko Isoda","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The effects of effluent from a wastewater treatment plant (EWWTP) on intestinal epithelial Caco-2 cells, a human intestinal epithelial cell line derived from a human colon carcinoma, were investigated. Previous studies have shown that the wastewater constituents nonylphenol and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induce the overexpression of specific proteins (galectin-3, glutathione S-transferase A2 subunit, peroxiredoxin-1, and heat shock protein 90, beta (HSP90b)). In this study, the first screening of EWWTP was carried out using the HSP47-transformed cell assay, which is a highly sensitive toxicity assay. From the results of proteomics analysis of human intestinal Caco-2 cells treated with EWWTP, we found the overexpression of specific proteins, namely, elongation factor 1beta and enolase 1. These results suggest that specific proteins can be used as biomarkers for the risk assessment of water and wastewater.</p>","PeriodicalId":87178,"journal":{"name":"Environmental sciences : an international journal of environmental physiology and toxicology","volume":"14 Suppl ","pages":"35-41"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"27359351","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Development of microchip for rapid pretreatment of trichloroethylene and tetrachloroethylene volatilized from polluted soil.","authors":"Hiroyuki Masaki,&nbsp;Yusuke Umaba,&nbsp;Shiori Hoshi,&nbsp;Takashi Korenaga","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In the field of environmental analysis, microchip technology has many attractive features and is expected to realize the miniaturization of analytical instruments allowing on-site and multipoint monitoring using this technology. We propose a new soil analytical system for detecting trichloroethylene (TCE) and tetrachloroethylene (PCE) using a microchip. The experimental conditions for the pretreatment microchip were optimized. Under the optimized conditions, the detection limits of TCE and PCE were 15 and 9 ppbv, and the determination limits of TCE and PCE were 62 and 72 ppbv, respectively.</p>","PeriodicalId":87178,"journal":{"name":"Environmental sciences : an international journal of environmental physiology and toxicology","volume":"14 1","pages":"1-8"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"26679665","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}