Innovative Way Developed To Look for Endocrine Disruptors in Wastewater
Treating pollutants, such as endocrine disruptors, is an effective way to protect the environment. Endocrine disruptors are chemicals that alter the hormonal systems and the development of organisms that are exposed to them, even in small quantities. Doctoral student Julie Robitaille and Professor Valérie Langlois of the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) are working on an effluent analysis tool to predict their harmful effects.
“魁北克和世界各地都有兴趣寻找追踪内分泌破坏者的方法。这些方法甚至可以确定污染物来自给定地区的何处 - 无论是农业，医院，市政还是工业环境，”ValérieLanglois教授说。
这对研究人员还与市政和工业合作伙伴合作，监视饮用水和废水，以计划潜在的基础设施变化。与许多关于鱼类测试的当前技术不同，它们的方法不涉及动物测试。取而代之的是，他们的方法使用人类细胞系，在实验室中经过基因修饰以对某些激素敏感。
“When an endocrine disruptor activates the receptors on these cells, they emit a small light. That’s how we determine whether the wastewater could be posing a risk to the hormonal system,” explains Julie Robitaille, a doctoral student in water sciences. However, she says that further research is needed to reveal how their cellular findings translate to aquatic species.
污染物鸡尾酒
监测废水的挑战来自其所包含的内分泌干扰物的“鸡尾酒”。“您不能仅仅看每种物质是否存在。您需要分析整个混合物是否有任何作用，因为这些污染物与其他化学物质相结合时可能会产生不同的后果。”
To test the effects of the pollutant mix, the researchers turned to bioassays, using the biological analyses to measure the reactions of their cell lines when exposed to wastewater samples, without knowing exactly which contaminants they contained.
Robitaille使用了几种技术来证明这种方法的有效性，其中一种涉及库存所有可用于监管机构的工具。她与科学家合作进行了这项文献综述，这些科学家是内分泌干扰器分析中心（ICEDA）的成员。该出版物出现在《环境研究杂志》的2022年特刊上，内容涉及内分泌干扰化学物质。
Reference:Barton-Maclaren TS，Wade M，Basu N等。内分泌破坏化学物质的监管方法的创新：加拿大风险评估现代化的旅程。Enviro Res。2022; 204：112225。doi：10.1016/j.envres.2021.112225
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