Identification of endocrine disrupting chemicals from a polluted river (Lambro) in Italy using chemical analysis

Recently increasing concern evolved about endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDC) in the environment. Some studies showed that these chemicals can influence the reproductive system of animals in the wildlife producing e.g. intersex phenomenon in fishes or in marine snails. In EASYRING joint project a polluted river in Italy (Lambro) was investigated to get more information about the wildlife effects of EDC. Water and sediment samples from the Lambro river were chemical analysed in order to test the presence of selected EDCs compounds. Moreover water and sediment samples were fractionated. We performed a chemical characterisation of Lambro water, sediment and macroinvertebrates and of all fractions of sediment and water samples that have been collected from Lambro. Samples have been analysed with Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS) for a qualitative screening and in High Performance Liquid Chromatography/Multiple Reaction Monitor (HPLC/MRM) for quantifying target endocrine compounds more frequently found in water and sediments. Results were obtained in several matrices such as water, sediments and biota. Lambro River water appears to have the higher contamination whereas there wasn\u2019t found significant differences between the two parts (upstream and downstream) of Po River. The sediment situation is similar to the macroinvertebrates situation and for some compounds the concentration is higher in downstream of the Po River. From the qualitative screening of fraction procedure the water fractions n\ub0 7 and 8 and the sediment fractions n\ub0 9 and 10 showed the higher number of chemicals and from quantitative data the higher contamination was in fraction 6, 7, 8 for water and 7,8 for sediments. These results are in excellent agreement with results on biotest and toxicity assays.Further investigations will show how fishes and amphibians are affected by the Lambro water conducting morphological studies and the expression of molecular biomarkers