Both natural estrogens and synthetic compounds that mimic estrogen can reach the aquatic environment through wastewater discharges. Because nonylphenol (NP), octylphenol (OP), nonylphenol polyethoxylates (NPE), 17βestradiol (E2), and ethynylestradiol (EE2) have previously been found to be estrogenic and to occur in wastewater effluents, they were the primary analytes for which the method was developed. Water samples were extracted in situ using solid-phase extraction disks. Analytes were separated by high-pressure liquid chromatography and detected by fluorescence or competitive radioimmunoassay (RIA). Method detection limits (MDLs) using HPLC with fluorescence detection were 11, 2, and 52 ng/L of water for NP, OP, and NPE, respectively. The RIA MDLs for E2 and EE2 were 107 and 53 pg/L, respectively. Samples were collected from four municipal wastewater treatment plants in south central Michigan, eight locations on the Trenton Channel of the Detroit River, MI, and five locations in Lake Mead, NV. Concentrations of NP and OP ranged from less than the MDL to 37 and 0.7 µg/L, respectively. NPE concentrations ranged from less than the MDL to 332 µg/L. Concentrations of E2 and EE2 ranged from less than the MDLs to 3.7 and 0.8 ng/L, respectively.

Carp (Cyprinus carpio) collected from Saginaw Bay, Michigan, containing 8.4 mg total polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)/kg and 194 ng of 2,3,7,8-tetrachloro-dibenzo-p-dioxin equivalents (TEQs)/kg, were substituted for marine fish at levels of 0, 10, 20, or 40% in the diets of adult ranch mink (Mustela vison). The diets, containing 0.015, 0.72, 1.53, and 2.56 mg PCBs/kg diet, or 1.03, 19.41, 40.02, and 80.76 ng TEQs/kg diet, respectively, were fed to mink prior to and throughout the reproductive period to evaluate the effects of a naturally-contaminated prey species on their survival and reproductive performance. The total quantities of PCBs ingested by the mink fed 0, 10, 20, or 40% carp over the 85-day treatment period were 0.34, 13.2, 25.3, and 32.3 mg PCBs/mink. respectively. The corresponding quantities of TEQs ingested by the mink over the same treatment period were 23, 356, 661, and 1,019 ng TEQs/mink, respectively. Consumption of feed by mink was inversely proportional to the PCB and TEQ content of the diet. The diet containing Saginaw Bay carp caused impaired reproduction and/or reduced survival of the kits. Compared to controls, body weights of kits at birth were significantly reduced in the 20 and 40% carp groups, and kit body weights and survival in the 10 and 20% carp groups were significantly reduced at three and six weeks of age. The females fed 40% carp whelped the fewest number of kits, all of which were stillborn or died within 24 hours. Lowest observable adverse effect levels (LOAEL) of 0.134 mg PCBs/kg body weight/day or 3.6 ng TEQs/kg body weight/day for adult female mink were determined. The potential effects of exposure of wild mink to contaminated Great Lakes fish were assessed by calculating "maximum allowable daily intakes" and "hazard indices" based on total concentrations of PCB residues in several species of Great Lakes fish and mink toxicity data derived from the study.

Fish-eating waterbirds from the Great Lakes of North America have shown symptoms of poisoning similar to those observed in laboratory exposures of various avian species to planar halogenated hydrocarbons (PHHs). PHHs, include among others, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), and have been implicated in some of the reproductive problems of Great Lakes water-birds. The objectives of this study were to assess the overall potencies of PCB-containing extracts from colonial water-bird eggs taken from the Great Lakes and to compare the potencies with the location and spatial distribution of the colonies. The potencies of the extracts were assessed by their ability to induce cytochrome P450IA1-associated ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase (EROD) activity in H4IIE rat hepatoma cells as compared to the standard, 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD). The H4IIE bioassay-derived TCDD-equivalents (TCCD-EQs) in the waterbird eggs concur with residue analyses and biological data from other studies. The greatest concentrations of TCDD-EQs were found in waterbird eggs from historically polluted, industrialized or urbanized areas in which the reproductive impairment of colonial waterbirds was most severe. However, significant concentrations of TCDD-EQs were detected at all sites tested; with a range of 49 to 415 pg TCDD-EQ/g egg, uncorrected for extraction efficiencies. The H4IIE bioassay proved to be a useful biomonitoring tool to assess the overall potency of complex PHH mixtures in environmental samples.

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