Determination of contaminated estrogen and heavy metals in canal of Thailand with their biological effects on human and the environment

The objectives of this study are to determine the contamination of 17β-estradiol (E2) and heavy metals in water samples from the Saen Seep canal to health and environmental problems[1]. A pre-treatment methodology of analysis based on High-Performance Liquid Chromatography with ultraviolet absorption detection (HPLC-UV) and Flame atomic absorption spectrophotometry (Flame AAS) were developed for the determination of E2 and heavy metals trace elements, respectively.² Then, mutagenic and estrogenic activities of the water samples were investigated with an Ames test and Yeast estrogen screen assay (YES assay), respectively. The determination of the E2 content with HPLC-UV indicated that concentrations of E2 in the water samples collected from Saen Saep canal were in the range of 0.63-11.89 mg/L. Heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb, and Zn) were determined by Flame AAS. There was contamination of Cd, Cu, Fe, and Zn in all sampling areas, while the quantities of Ni and Pb could not be detected. The results of the Ames test demonstrated that E2 in the concentration levels found in the Saen Saep canal did not induce the frame-shift mutations and base-pair substitutions in Salmonella typhimurium TA98 and TA100, respectively. For the YES bioassay, the water extracts containing E2 in the concentration range of 4.22-13,347.6 ng/L and raw water in the concentration of 67 ng/L were used for estrogenic activity tests. The results revealed that the estradiol equivalent (EEQ) of E2 extract equals to 4.12 ng/L while the EEQ of the raw water could not be determined. The bioassays demonstrated that the E2 level found in the water collected from the Saen Saep canal did not express the mutagenic and estrogenic activities.