Analysis of environmental endocrine disrupting activities in wastewater treatment plant effluents using recombinant yeast assays incorporated with exogenous metabolic activation system.

OBJECTIVE To measure the endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in wastewater and evaluate the EDCs removal efficiencies in the municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTP). METHODS A battery of in vitro recombinant yeast bioassays incorporated with exogenous metabolic activation system (rat liver preparation, S9 mix) was conducted to assess the estrogen receptor (ER), androgen receptor (AR), progesterone receptor (PR), and thyroid receptor (TR) ant/agonistic activities of effluents collected from Datansha WWTP. RESULTS The indirect estrogenic, anti-androgenic, anti-progesteronic, and anti-thyroidic activities were observed in the influent. The removal efficiencies of EDCs were above 74%, suggesting that the present wastewater treatment processes were good enough to remove most of these indirect endocrine disrupting chemicals. CONCLUSION The incorporation of exogenous metabolic capacity into the test system was valid for the study of indirect effects on ER, AR, PR, and TR.