title: Fate and transport of free and conjugated estrogens during soil passage.
abstract: Endocrine disrupting chemicals, such as the free estrogens 17β-estradiol (E2), estrone (E1) and the conjugated estrogen estrone-sulfate (E1-3S) are found at low concentration levels in the environment. This is somehow contradictory to the strong sorption and high degradation potentials found in laboratory experiments. In particular, the fate and transport behavior of conjugated estrogens is poorly understood, and the importance of enzymes triggering the transformation pathways has received little attention. To address these deficiencies, the present research uses packed laboratory soil columns with pulse injections of free estrogens, either E2 or E1, or E1-3S, to provide sound evidence of the transformation pathways. It is further shown that (i) transport of free estrogens is subject to strong retardation and degradation, (ii) the transport of conjugated estrogens is less retarded and only to a minor degree affected by degradation, and (iii) arylsulfotransferase is the enzyme triggering the transformation reaction.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Applied Geosciences (AGW), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Kaiserstrasse 12, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany. Electronic address: nadine.goeppert@kit.edu.
authors.forename: Nadine
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Goeppert
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, 76100 Rehovot, Israel. Electronic address: ishai.dror@weizmann.ac.il.
authors.forename: Ishai
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Dror
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, 76100 Rehovot, Israel. Electronic address: brian.berkowitz@weizmann.ac.il.
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Berkowitz
mesh_terms: D052244:Endocrine Disruptors / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D004958:Estradiol / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry; D004967:Estrogens / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D004966:Estrogens, Conjugated (USP) / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D004970:Estrone / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry; D007700:Kinetics; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry*; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D052244:Endocrine Disruptors; D004967:Estrogens; D004966:Estrogens, Conjugated (USP); D012987:Soil; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D004970:Estrone; D004958:Estradiol; C017296:estrone sulfate
keywords: Arylsulfotransferase; Estrogen conjugates; Estrogen fate and transport; Estrogens; Metabolite formation