Sources, fate, and identification of endocrine disruption compounds in the Hudson

本研究的目的是增加对可能破坏野生动物或人类内分泌功能的化学污染物及其转化产物-烷基酚聚氧乙烯醚代谢物、多溴联苯醚和其他溴化阻燃剂-的来源、环境归宿和健康风险的了解。具体目标包括：（1）确定哈德逊流域中这些潜在内分泌干扰化合物（EDC）的来源以及这些来源随时间的变化。为了评估城市废水对哈德逊盆地EDC输入的贡献，将开发废水的特定化学示踪剂。(2)确定其分布和地球化学特征 哈德逊流域沉积物和食物网中多氯联苯和多溴二苯醚羟基化代谢物的循环。这项研究将确定内分泌干扰物是否在沉积物中持续存在和积累，以及HO-PCBs和HO-PBDE同系物是否因接触沉积物和/或食用水生无脊椎动物而进入水生食物网。(3)通过体外定向分馏分析确定哈德逊盆地沉积物中重要雌激素和雄激素激动剂的空间变异、可能来源和身份。这一目标将依赖于基于发现的质谱鉴定推定的结构。 由于EDC混合物的复杂性以及EDC与内分泌系统相互作用的许多可能机制，因此评估与EDC相关的生态和人类健康风险是一项挑战。迄今为止，大多数关于内分泌干扰物的地球化学工作都集中在废水排放物和环境水测试的分析上，而不是研究可能是生物累积性和持久性内分泌干扰物的更大水库的沉积物。特别是缺乏对受超级基金化学品严重污染的地点内分泌干扰物的识别和分布的研究。本项目将设法填补这些信息空白。它将与西奈山SBRP的基础生物学和流行病学研究密切相关，这些研究正在阐明毒性机制，探索基因-环境相互作用，并研究遗传决定的个体间对EDCs易感性的差异。

This goal of this study is to increase knowledge of the sources, environmental fate and health risks of chemical contaminants and their transformation products that have the potential to disrupt endocrine function in wildlife or humans - alkylphenol ethoxylate metabolites (APEMs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and other brominated flame retardants. Specific aims include: (1) To identify the sources of these potentially endocrine disrupting compounds (EDC) in the Hudson basin and changes in those sources overtime. To assess the contribution that municipal wastewater makes to EDC inputs to the Hudson Basin, specific chemical tracers for wastewater will be developed. (2) To determine the distribution and biogeochemical cycling of hydroxylated metabolites of PCBs (HO-PCBs) and PBDEs (HO-PBDEs) in sediments and food webs in the Hudson watershed. This research will determine whether EDCs persist and accumulate in sediments and whether HO-PCBs and HO-PBDE congeners enter aquatic food webs from exposure to sediments and/or consumption of aquatic invertebrates. (3) To identify through in vitro assay directed fractionation the spatial variation, likely sources, and identity of important estrogen and androgen agonists in sediments from the Hudson Basin. This aim will rely upon discovery-based mass spectrometric identification of putative structures. Assessment of the ecological and human health risks related to EDCs is a challenge because of the complexity of EDC mixtures and the many possible mechanisms through which EDCs may interact with endocrine systems. Much of the geochemical work to date with EDCs has focused on analysis of wastewater effluents and ambient water testing, rather than on examining sediments that are likely to be larger reservoirs of bioaccumulative and persistent EDCs. There is especially a lack of study of the identification and distributions of EDCs at sites heavily contaminated with Superfund chemicals. This project will seek to fill those gaps in information. It will link closely to basic biological and epidemiological research in the Mount Sinai SBRP that are elucidating mechanisms of toxicity, exploring gene-environment interactions and studying genetically determined, inter-individual differences in susceptibility to EDCs.