Natural and synthetic endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) in water, sediment and biota of a coastal lagoon

We report a survey on the occurrence and distribution of natural (17β-estradiol, E2; estrone, E1) and synthetic (nonylphenol, NP; nonylphenol monoethoxylate carboxylate, NP1EC; bisphenol-A, BPA; benzophenone, BP; mestranol, MES; 17α-ethinylestradiol, EE2; diethylstilbestrol, DES) endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) in water, sediment and biota (Mediterranean mussel, Mytilus galloprovincialis) in the Venice lagoon, a highly urbanized coastal water ecosystem that receives both industrial and municipal wastewater effluents. The survey was preceded by the development of tailor made extraction and clean-up procedures for the simultaneous HPLC–ESI-MS determination of all examined EDCs in sediment and biota samples. Satisfactory extraction performances and method detection limits (MDLs) were obtained for almost all EDCs. Most of the selected compounds were found in water and sediment (concentration range: 2.8–211 ng/L, and 3.1–289 μg/kg, d.w., respectively), while only 17α-ethinylestradiol and nonylphenol were recorded in biota samples (conc. range: 7.2–240 ng/g, d.w.). 17β-estradiol and ethinylestradiol contributed mostly to the water estradiol equivalent concentration (EEQ) (1.1–191 ng/L, average: 25 ng/L), while synthetic EDCs (17α-ethinylestradiol, diethylstilbestrol) were mainly responsible of the sediment EEQ (1.1–191 μg/kg, average: 71 μg/kg, d. w.). Whenever diethylstilbestrol was not recorded in the sediment, water EEQs were similar to sediment EEQs. A remarkable increase of nonylphenol was observed in sediments over the last decade.