Monitoring Endocrine Disrupter Compounds in the Tunisian Hamdoun River using In Vitro Bioassays

Anthropogenic chemicals occurring in the environment, namely endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), have generated growing concern over their potential adverse effects on human wildlife health and ecosystem processes. This interest resulted particularly from their abilities to mimic the effect of endogenous hormones. In this study, we used stable transfected reporter cell lines to investigate the endocrine-disrupting profile of water as well as sediment samples. Samples are collected from up- and downstream of an industrial wastewater discharge point at the Hamdoun River in the vicinity of an industrial zone located at the center of Tunisia. The analysis of estrogen, androgen, and xenobiotic (pregnane X and dioxin) ligands receptors expressed by chimeric cell lines indicated that while the water and sediment samples from upstream sites have lower levels of estrogenic activity, those from downstream exhibited stronger estrogenic, aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), and Pregnane X Receptor (PXR) activities. Moreover, collected samples have shown hormonal activity in terms of all tested receptors except the androgenic ones. In vitro recombinant estrogen receptor competitive binding assays revealed that while the estrogenic activities of the downstream water sample compounds had a strong affinity for estrogen receptor α (ERα), those present in the sediment samples showed a weaker one. These findings were consolidated by subsequent chemical analysis (high-performance liquid chromatography with UV detectors). Our results indicate that the water and sediment discharges at the Hamdoun River represent a major sink for EDCs from natural and industrial effluents, particularly those of the textile industry, with pernicious potential to disrupt normal endocrine functions.