Preliminary ecological risk assessment of butylparaben and benzylparaben -1. Removal efficiency in wastewater treatment, acute/chronic toxicity for aquatic organisms, and effects on medaka gene expression.

Butylparaben and benzylparaben, used as preservatives mainly in cosmetic products, have recently been found to be weakly estrogenic. Batch activated-sludge treatment and batch chlorination were carried out to roughly determine the removal efficiency of a wastewater treatment plant. Combining the removal efficiency with the estimated annual consumption and the unaltered excretion ratio, the maximum predicted environmental concentration (PEC) was estimated.

The effects of pH on fluoxetine in Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes): acute toxicity in fish larvae and bioaccumulation in juvenile fish.

Recent detection of fluoxetine in the aquatic environment and fish suggests a possibly high accumulation of fluoxetine; however, no report is available on the bioaccumulation of fluoxetine in aquatic organisms. Since bioaccumulation of fluoxetine was probably dependent on pH near the pK(a) value of 10.1, experiments were conducted approximately at pH 7, 8, and 9.

Initial ecological risk assessment of eight selected human pharmaceuticals in Japan.

Eight pharmaceuticals were selected on the basis of their domestic consumption in Japan, the excretion ratio of the parent compound and the frequency of detection in the aquatic environment or wastewater treatment plant effluent. Toxicity tests on these pharmaceuticals were conducted using Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes), daphnia (Daphnia magna), and green algae (Psuedokirchneriella subcapitata). Predicted no effect concentration (PNEC) was calculated using lethal or effect concentration 50 (LC50 or EC50) values and no effect concentration (NOEC) obtained in the toxicity tests for these compounds.

Feminization of Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes) exposed to 17beta-estradiol: effect of exposure period on spawning performance in sex-transformed females.

Two groups of Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes) were exposed to 17beta-estradiol (E2: 150ng/L, nominal concentration) for either a short-term exposure (STE: 0-31 days after fertilization (daf); egg-larval period) or a long-term exposure period (LTE: 0-81 daf; egg-adult period) and their subsequent spawning performance was compared in terms of fecundity, spawning time, and fertility. Most genetic males were transformed to phenotypic females by E2 following both short-term and long-term exposure, but spawning performance and gonad somatic index (GSI) of sex-transformed females (XY females) following long-term exposure were lower than those of sex-transformed females following short-term exposure and those of normal females (XX) in the control group. Sex-transformed females in the STE group and normal females possessed mature ovary, whereas most of the sex-transformed females in the LTE group possessed immature ovary, with most oocytes being in the pre-vitellogenic phase.

Feminization of Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes) exposed to 17beta-estradiol: formation of testis-ova and sex-transformation during early-ontogeny.

Gonad histological changes were examined in Japanese medaka exposed to 17beta-estradiol (E2) during early-life stages. Two experiments were conducted at different concentrations of E2 (33.5 and 140.

Bioconcentration factor of relatively low concentrations of chlorophenols in Japanese medaka.

Bioconcentration factors (BCF) for pentachlorophenol (PCP) and 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP) in Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes) were determined at five different concentrations of the chemicals, between 0.1 and 10 microg/l (PCP), 0.3 and 30 microg/l (2,4-DCP), in the ambient water.

Seasonal changes in sex ratio, maturation, and size composition of fresh water snail, Sinotaia quadrata histrica, in Lake Kasumigaura.

Sinotaia quadrata histrica is a fresh water viviparous snail distributing from the Kanto region to Kyushu Island, Japan. About 7000 snails were collected in Lake Kasumigaura (L. Nishiura and L.