In vivo evaluation of the endocrine disruption potential of drinking water samples in Brazil

• Grant number: 10/09771-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): October 01, 2010
• Effective date (End): February 28, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Morphology
• Principal Investigator: João Lauro Viana de Camargo
• Grantee: Marize de Lourdes Marzo Solano
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina (FMB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Environmental chemicals with estrogenic activity have become a major issue in recent years. Many xenoestrogens as well as natural and synthetic estrogens end up in the aquatic environment through sewage systems. The contaminated rivers are conventionally treated in water stations to produce drinking water, but emerging contaminants still remain in the effluents. This project aims to investigate the potential for endocrine disruption (ED) of a treated water sample from a São Paulo State Water Treatment Plant (WTP) in intact juvenile and adult female rats, using the uterotrophic assay (OECD 440) and the pubertal development and thyroid function in intact juvenile/peripubertal female rats assay (EPA 890.1450). The animals will be exposed to drinking water extracts (33.3, 166.5 and 333.0 ml/kg body weight) by gavage using 12 to 15 animals per group for 4 days (protocol A) and for 20 days (protocol B). The doses were respectively equivalent to a daily ingestion of 2L, 5L and 10L of drinking water by a 60 kg human. The present in vivo assays will also evaluate organs histology, morphometry, serum hormone levels, immunohistochemistry and gene expression. The water sample analyzed will be characterized for the presence of estrogen/estrogenic-like substances using HPLC-MS and bioluminescent yeast assay.

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

SOLANO, Marize de Lourdes Marzo. A methodological aprroch to evaluate endocrine disrupting activity of drinking water: real samples study in rats. 2014. Doctoral Thesis - Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp). Faculdade de Medicina. Botucatu Botucatu.