The catabolism of chlorinated s-triazines, e.g., herbicides, is incompletely understood. The first demonstration of their quantitative microbial degradation is the fungal dealkylation of simazine (CEET [for meaning of abbreviations throughout, see Table 1, footnote a]) to two major products, deethylsimazine (CEAT; two-thirds of total) and an unidentified s-triazine (one-third of total) (11, 12)...

Monitoring and analysis of trace contaminants such as pharmaceuticals and pesticides require the preservation of the samples before they can be quantified using the appropriate analytical methods. Our objective is to determine the sample shelf life to insure proper quantification of ultratrace contaminants. To this end, we tested the stability of a variety of pharmaceutical products including c...

An ecological impact assessment of four herbicides (atrazine, diuron, paraquat and simazine) was assessed using the aquatic floating vascular plants, Lemna gibba, Lemna minor and Lemna paucicostata as test organisms. The sensitivity of several ecologically relevant parameters (increase in frond area, root length after regrowth, maximum and effective quantum yield of PSII and maximum electron tr...

Numerous studies have indicated that the pesticides and herbicides used in agricultural processes in the United States and Europe may have detrimental effects upon human health. Many of these compounds have been indicated as potential endocrine and reproductive disruptors, although the studies have examined supraphysiological levels well above the US EPA safe levels for drinking water and have ...

A direct injection, liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method has been developed for the analysis of the chloro-s-triazine herbicides and their degradates in finished drinking water. The target compounds in the method were selected based on their inclusion in a common mechanism group (CMG) because of their ability to induce a similar toxic effect through a common mechanis...

There is increasing concern that certain chemicals in the environment can cause endocrine disruption in exposed humans and wildlife. Investigations of potential effects on endocrine function have been limited mainly to interactions with hormone receptors. A need exists for the development of alternate in vitro methods to evaluate chemicals for their potential to disturb various endocrine functi...

The presence of atrazine in agricultural sites has been linked to the decline in amphibian populations. The efforts of the scientific community generally are directed toward investigating the long-term effect of atrazine on complex functions (reproduction or respiration), but in the present study, we investigated the short-term effect on the short-circuit current (I(sc)), a quantitative measure...

Microplastic pollution and its ecological impact on the aquatic environment are a current focus of research in scientific community. These microplastics may adsorb contaminants discharged into environment, thereby serving as sink source for dissemination these associated chemical contaminants. However, knowledge about potential risks biota, especially primary freshwater producers, remains to be...

A variety of formats for enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays have been examined for the analysis of environmental samples using a single monoclonal antibody raised to the herbicide atrazine. The most favorable combination of several ELISA formats and a variety of synthesized hapten-enzyme conjugates resulted in a highly sensitive enzyme immunoassay with 50% inhibition (160) at 0.25 pg/L and a de...

Atrazine molecular imprinted polymers (MIPs) were comparatively synthesized using identical polymer formulation by far-infrared (FIR) radiation and ultraviolet (UV)-induced polymerization, respectively. Equilibrium binding experiments were carried out with the prepared MIPs; the results showed that MIP(uv) possessed specific binding to atrazine compared with their MIP(FIR) radiation counterpart...