PARENT SESSION

2K - Sediment Assays
Poster Hall
8:30 AM - Tuesday, 29 April 2003

(TUP/148) Sediment survey on endocrine disruption: a new snail test versus standardised test methods.

Tillmann, Michaela¹, Duft, Martina¹, Schulte-Oehlmann, Ulrike², Oehlmann, Jörg², ¹ International Graduate School (IHI), Zittau, Saxony, Germany² J.W. Goethe University, Frankfurt/Main, Hesse, Germany

ABSTRACT- Until now, only little is known about endocrine disruption in invertebrates. Especially for the sediment compartment, information and test systems are rare. The objective of this study was to develop a test system with the marine snail Nassarius reticulatus to identify endocrine-mimetic compounds in sediments. In laboratory experiments, snails were exposed to well-known endocrine disrupting compounds at different concentrations. Experiments include the xeno-androgens tributyltin (TBT; 10 - 500 g as Sn/kg) and fenarimol (FM; 0.3 - 1,000 g/kg), the xeno-estrogen octylphenol (OP; 10 - 1,000 g/kg) and the synthetic steroid ethinylestradiol (EE2; 10-1,000 g/kg). The experiments were performed as static systems with adult specimens and lasted for 28 days. With the results of these investigations as a background, field sediment samples of large German rivers were analysed with N. reticulatus and also with a standardised sediment test using the non-biting midge Chironomus riparius. Different effects of model compounds and field samples were found. A comparison of the results of the two different test systems show that snails are more sensitive to endocrine disruption at environmentally relevant concentrations than the midges, and that especially N. reticulatus is able to detect such contaminants in sediments. Furthermore, the results indicate a widespread occurrence of chemicals with androgenic and estrogenic activities in sediment samples from the large German rivers.

Key words: endocrine disruptors, sediment bioassay, Chironomus riparius, Nassarius reticulatus