Occurrence of endocrine disruptor compounds in the estuary of the Iberian Douro River and nearby Porto Coast (NW Portugal)

Abstract

Previous studies in the Douro River estuary, based on occasional sampling, showed the presence of several estrogenic disrupting chemicals (EDCs). In sequence, we hypothesized that such type of pollution was more likely an enduring issue than an occasional phenomenon, and that it may even affect recreational beaches in each side of the estuarine mouth. Thus to conclude about the continuous influx of EDCs, water samples were taken twice a day, once per a week, from March to May of 2009, at four sites within the estuary and at two sites in the coastline. After solid-phase extraction, the extracts were prepared for GC-MS analysis of 11 reference EDCs. These embraced natural and pharmaceutical estrogens (17β-estradiol, estrone and 17α-ethynylestradiol) and xenoestrogenic industrial pollutants (4-octylphenol, 4-nonylphenol, and their mono and diethoxylates and bisphenol A). Data showed the ubiquitous presence of potentially hazardous amounts of natural estrogens (particularly of estradiol, ca 5.5 ng L⁻¹) and persistent organic pollutants such as nonylphenol mono (up to 550 ng L⁻¹) and diethoxylate (up to 2000 ng L⁻¹). It was concluded that the targeted area is continuously polluted by the assayed EDCs, and as a consequence, conditions exist for endocrine disturbance in the biota by chronic exposure to EDCs.

Keywords:

• estrogens
• alkylphenols
• alkylphenol ethoxylates
• bisphenol A
• GC-MS

Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by FEDER funds through the Competitiveness and Trade Expansion Program (COMPETE) and by National Funds provided by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), via the project PTDC/MAR/70436/2006.