Preparative isolation, fractionation and chemical characterization of dissolved organics from natural and industrially derived bitumen-influenced groundwaters from the Athabasca River watershed

Frank, Richard A.; Bauer, Anthony E.; Roy, James W.; Bickerton, Greg; Rudy, Martina D.; Vanderveen, Ruth; Batchelor, Suzanne P.; Barrett, Sophie E.; Milestone, Craig B.; Peru, Kerry M.; Headley, John V.; Brunswick, Pamela; Shang, Dayue; Farwell, Andrea J.; Dixon, D. George; Hewitt, L. Mark

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146022

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…Consequently, they have been detected in coastal sediments after major oil spills in the USA ( McNutt et al , 2012 ) and South Korea ( Wan et al , 2014 ). NAs originating from crude oil may also be present in refinery wastewater ( Wang et al , 2015a ) and are significant toxic pollutants resulting from oil sands development ( Bauer et al , 2015 , 2019a , 2019b ; Frank et al , 2021 ; Headley and McMartin, 2004 ; Leung et al, 2003 ). Extraction from sand requires water and solvents, generating oil sands-process affected water (OSPW) as waste.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In 2018, total OSPW volumes were ~1.2 trillion litres ( Alberta Energy Regulator, 2019 ). Despite a zero-discharge policy, NAs have been detected in surface water of the Athabasca region of the Alberta oil sands ( Frank et al , 2021 ; Headley and McMartin, 2004 ; Leung et al , 2003 ). Various NAs are also used commercially in a wide range of products such as paint and ink driers, wood and fabric preservatives, fuel additives, emulsifiers and surfactants, and are used in the production of metal salts ( Brient et al, 1995 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Petroleum-derived naphthenic acids disrupt hormone-dependent sexual behaviours in male Western clawed frogs

Zhang

Farmer

Muhanzi

et al. 2022

Conservation Physiology

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Naphthenic acids (NAs), the carboxylic acids found in petroleum, are of emerging concern as they contaminate coastlines after oil spills, leech into freshwater ecosystems of oil sands areas and have wide industrial applications. They are acutely toxic in fish and tadpoles and may be endocrine disruptors at sublethal levels. We characterized androgen-dependent courtship behaviours and their disruption by NAs in male Western clawed frogs, Silurana tropicalis. Courtship primarily consists of males producing low trills and achieving amplexus, a mating position where a male clasps a female. Adult males were exposed for 5 days to 20 mg/l NA and injected with human chorionic gonadotropin to induce calling. The duration of calling activity was significantly reduced by NA exposure. Other acoustic parameters such as dominant frequency, click rate and trill length were not affected. Vocalization and amplexus were both inhibited after NA exposure and restored after 2 weeks of recovery in clean water. To determine possible disruption at the level of the testes, the effects of NA exposure on gene expression of key players in steroidogenesis was determined. Exposure to NAs decreased srd5a on average by ~ 25%. The enzyme 5α-reductase, encoded by srd5a, converts testosterone to its more bioactive form 5α-dihydrotestosterone (DHT), so NAs may be affecting this steroidogenic step. However, the observed upregulation of lhr, star and cyp17a1 suggests that NA-exposed males may be attempting to counteract the reduced potential to produce DHT. Yet, these NA-exposed frogs have dramatically reduced calling duration, so the observed upregulation of star and cyp17a1 is decoupled from the vocalizations. Calling duration and the ability of males to amplex females is reversibly disrupted by NA exposure, implying that environmental reduction and removal of NAs may help improve habitability of contaminated ecosystems.

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