The Fenholloway River near Perry, Florida, receives effluent from a paper mill and contains populations of masculinized female eastern mosquitofish, Gambusia holbrooki. A previous study identified the androgen precursor androstenedione at a low concentration (0.14 nM) in water samples from the river. The present study makes use of a toxicity identification and evaluation approach that includes solid phase extraction and high pressure liquid chromatography purification, androgen receptor transcription assays, and liquid chromatography mass spectroscopy to identify and characterize steroids in the Fenholloway River sediment. Androstenedione (2.4 nM) and progesterone (155 nM) were identified in the river sediment at concentrations greater than in the river water column (0.14 nM androstenedione, and 6.5 nM progesterone). Spring Creek, a comparison stream that does not receive mill effluent, contained low levels of progesterone (0.3 nM) but no androstenedione in the sediment. The data are consistent with the hypothesis that pine pulp-derived phytosteroids in the paper mill effluent accumulate in river sediment where they are converted by microbes into progesterone and this into androstenedione and other bioactive steroids. Equally important is that normal streams with much less organic matter still contain progesterone, but at dramatically lower levels. The presence of androgens and androgen precursors in the river water and sediment likely contributes to the masculinized phenotype of the female Gambusia holbrooki in the Fenholloway River.

Effluent from a paper mill discharging into the Fenholloway River, Taylor County, Florida, USA, contains chemicals that masculinize females of the resident population of eastern mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki), as evidenced in females by elongated anal fins, which is normally a male-specific trait. To identify androgenic components in the effluent, water collected from the Fenholloway River and a control tributary was fractionated using solid-phase extraction and reverse-phase high-performance-liquid chromatography. Two Fenholloway River fractions induced androgen receptor-dependent transcriptional activity in transient transfection cell culture assays. Of these, androstenedione was confirmed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry with multiple reaction monitoring.

Effluent from a paper mill discharging into the Fenholloway River, Taylor County, Florida, USA, contains chemicals that masculinize females of the resident population of eastern mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki), as evidenced in females by elongated anal fins, which is normally a male-specific trait. To identify androgenic components in the effluent, water collected from the Fenholloway River and a control tributary was fractionated using solid-phase extraction and reverse-phase high-performance-liquid chromatography. Two Fenholloway River fractions induced androgen receptor-dependent transcriptional activity in transient transfection cell culture assays. Of these, androstenedione was confirmed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry with multiple reaction monitoring.

We have previously documented the presence of progesterone and androstenedione in the water column and bottom sediments of the Fenholloway River, Taylor County, Florida. This river receives paper mill effluent and contains masculinized female mosquitofish. We hypothesized that plant sterols (e.g., β-sitosterol) derived from the pulping of pine trees are transformed by bacteria into progesterone and subsequently into 17α-hydroxyprogesterone, androstenedione, and other androgens. In this study, we demonstrate that these same androgens can be produced in vitro from the bacterium Mycobacterium smegmatis. In a second part to this study, we reextracted and reanalyzed the sediment from the Fenholloway River and verified the presence of androstadienedione, a Δ1 steroid with androgen activity.

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Progesterone, androstenedione, and androstadienedione were previously identified in the water and sediment of the Fenholloway River (Taylor County, FL, USA), a river that contains populations of masculinized female mosquitofish downstream of a paper mill, at levels higher than those in the nearby Spring Creek. Plant sterols, such as beta-sitosterol in mill effluent derived from pine tree pulp, were suggested to be metabolized by bacteria to progesterone and androgens to account for the masculinization phenomenon. The current study made use of standard solid-phase methanol extraction procedures, high-performance liquid chromatography, liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, and a cell-based, androgen-receptor transcription assay to determine naturally occurring progesterone levels in mature pine trees. Progesterone concentrations in the loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) were 49.34 +/- 4.1 nmol/g dry mature wood (15.5 +/- 1.29 microg/g), 12.26 +/- 1.78 nmol/g pine needles (3.85 +/- 0.56 microg/g), and 3.81 +/- 0.36 nmol/g pine bark (1.19 +/- 0.11 mug/g). The results suggest that naturally occurring progesterone from pine wood pulp contributes to increased progesterone levels downstream of paper mill effluent discharges and may serve as the natural steroid precursor for environmental androgen production that causes masculinization of female mosquitofish.

Adult male Fisher rats injected with streptozotocin (Stz) to produce diabetes mellitus demonstrated a significant loss of total body weight associated with adipose and muscle tissue wasting. Paradoxically, intestinal mass and length were increased in Stz-treated rats despite catabolism of other tissues. Concomitant with increased intestinal mass, food and water intake increased significantly in Stz-diabetic animals. Renal weight was not reduced despite the fall in total body weight. It is proposed that the adult Stz-diabetic rat responds to a loss of available insulin by polyphagia, polydipsia, and catabolism of adipose and muscle tissue and that a large percentage of available synthetic fuel is devoted to the production of additional intestinal tissue.

High-performance liquid chromatography analysis of acid-extracted tissues revealed decreases of high-energy nucleotides and increases in low-energy nucleotides and metabolites in heart, diaphragm, and liver but not in kidneys of diabetic rats. In comparison with nondiabetic rats, the total adenine nucleotide content of diabetic rat heart and diaphragm but not liver decreased, indicating an increase in catabolism of AMP. Maximal initial rates of the AMP catabolic enzymes 5′-nucleotidase, adenosine deaminase, and AMP deaminase were elevated in the hearts of BB/Wistar and streptozocin-induced diabetic rats. Nucleotide salvage enzymes adenylosuccinate synthetase and adenylosuccinate lyase were elevated above normal in the diabetic heart, whereas hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyl transferase was not altered. Cytosolic-to-mitochondrial ratios from maximal initial rates after correction for mitochondrial breakage were increased above controls in diabetic hearts for nucleoside diphosphokinase and aspartate aminotransferase. Nucleotide levels, degradation rates, and substrate compartmentation between cytosol and mitochondria are discussed in relation to concurrent diabetes.