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Migration and abiotic transformation of estrone (E1) and estrone-3-sulfate (E1-3S) during soil column transport

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Abstract

Steroid estrogens have received worldwide attention and given rise to great challenges of aquatic ecosystems security, posing potential adverse effects on aquatic organisms and human health even at low levels (ng/L). The present study focused on understanding the mobility and abiotic transformation of estrone (E1) and estrone-3-sulfate (E1-3S) over spatial and time scales during soil transport. Column transport experiments showed that the migration capacity of E1-3S was far stronger than E1 in soil. The calculated groundwater ubiquity score and leachability index values also indicated the high leaching mobility of E1-3S. The hydrolysis of E1-3S and abiotic transformation into estradiol and estriol was observed in the sterilized soil. Furthermore, possible transformation products (e.g., SE239, E2378, E1 dimer538, E1-E2 dimer541) of E1 and E1-3S in soil were analyzed and identified after the column transport experiments. The estrogenic activity was estimated by 17β-estradiol equivalency values during the transport process in aqueous and soil phases. Additionally, the potential leaching transport to groundwater of E1-3S requires further critical concern.

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Data availability

Detailed data are available from the corresponding author.

Abbreviations

SEs:

Steroid estrogens

FEs:

Free estrogens

CEs:

Conjugated estrogens

E1:

Estrone

17β-E2:

17β-Estradiol

CSEs:

Conjugated sulfate estrogens

CGEs:

Conjugated glucuronide estrogens

CS-GEs:

Conjugated sulfate-glucuronide estrogens

ArySTS:

Arylsulfatase

GUSB:

β-Glucuronidase

WWTPs:

Wastewater treatment plants

CAFOs:

Concentrated animal feeding operations

E1-3S:

Estrone-3-sulfate

EEQ:

17β-Estradiol equivalency

17α-E2:

17α-Estradiol

E3:

Estriol

HPLC:

High-performance liquid chromatography

ACN:

Acetonitrile

DCM:

Dichloromethane

EtOAc:

Ethyl acetate

MeOH:

Methanol

PVs:

Pore volumes

CK:

Control check

LC–MS/MS:

Liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry

SPE:

Solid-phase extraction

MRM:

Multiple reaction monitoring

ESI:

Electron spray ionization

m/z :

Mass/charge ratio

LOD:

Limit of detection

LOQ:

Limit of quantitation

GUS:

Groundwater ubiquity score

LIX:

Leachability index

K oc :

Organic carbon distribution coefficient

16α-OH-E1:

16α-Hydroxy-estrone

DOM:

Dissolved organic matter

EEF:

17β-Estradiol equivalent factor

YES:

Yeast estrogen screen

EC50:

Half maximal effective concentration

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Funding

The research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51608079), National Engineering Technology Research Center for Inland Waterway Regulation and Key Laboratory of Hydraulic & Waterway Engineering of the Ministry of Education Open Funding (SLK2018A04), Basic and Frontier Research Program of Chongqing Municipality (cstc2017jcyjAX0104), and Graduate Education Innovation Funding of School of River and Ocean Engineering, Chongqing Jiaotong University (YC2019004; YC2019008).

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Authors

Contributions

Weiwei Yu conceived and designed the experiments; Banghao Du and Weiwei Yu analyzed the data and wrote the paper; Banghao Du, Lun Yang, and Shuo Yang performed the experiments; Gongduan Fan, Hui Jiang, Shenglan Bi, and Cheng Yu reviewed and edited the paper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Weiwei Yu.

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The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Human or animal rights

This study contains no animal research.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants in the study.

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Du, B., Yu, W., Yang, L. et al. Migration and abiotic transformation of estrone (E1) and estrone-3-sulfate (E1-3S) during soil column transport. Environ Geochem Health 44, 911–924 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-021-00968-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-021-00968-1

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