Sewage sludge hazard index based on bioassays: strategic tool for the decision-making process on sludge agricultural use

Matta, Marcus E. M. da; Umbuzeiro, Gisela A.

doi:10.22280/revintervol7ed2.174

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

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“…10 In Brazil, there is no current SS characterization study regarding emerging organic contaminants, except for a report from a project developed by CETESB 7 and a paper from Da Matta and Umbuzeiro (2014). 11 To assess the endocrine disrupting potential of chemicals, in vitro tests in combination with short and long term assays with experimental animals have been developed to identify modes and mechanisms of action of those chemicals in specific target organs. 2,12 As an alternative to the standard in vivo Hershberger test (OECD 441) 13 that requires surgical male castration, Ashby et al (2004) 14 and Tinwell et al (2007) 15 proposed a 10-day assay using intact, immature weanling rats, thus avoiding the surgical procedure.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Potential androgenic effects of urban sewage sludge in male rats

Luvizutto

Solano

Martinez

et al. 2015

Endocrine Disruptors

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The processing of urban sewage by waste water treatment plants produces a pasty mixture of complex organic materials (microorganisms, plants, chemical contaminants) and inorganic (minerals, metals, etc.) known as sewage sludge (SS). Facing the possibility of using this mixture for agricultural soil enrichment this study was designed to assess in vivo the potential endocrine disrupting activity of a SS sample using pubertal male Wistar rats or weanling rats in a modified Hershberger assay. Pubertal male rats (42-days old) were exposed ad libitum through adulthood (98-days old) to a diet containing 0, 2500, 5000, 10000 or 20000 ppm of SS. In another study, weanling male rats (21-days old) were treated daily for 10 d by gavage with flutamide (anti-androgenic positive control), testosterone propionate s.c. (androgenic positive control), or SS at 10000 and 20000 ppm in the diet. Despite no alterations in body and reproductive organs weights, diet consumption or sperm count, SS treatment impaired the sperm quality of pubertal rats, as indicated by a decreased proportion of sperm showing progressive movement. No evidence of SS-induced adverse effects was found in weanling rats. The treatments did not induce direct androgenic effects in both life periods studied in rats. However, the observed impaired sperm motility in the SS-treated pubertal rats raises some concern about the use of this material as soil additive, or in other applications where human and animals are potentially exposed.

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