title: Body burden of pesticides and wastewater-derived pollutants on freshwater invertebrates: Method development and application in the Danube River.
abstract: While environmental risk assessment is typically based on toxicant concentrations in water and/or sediment, awareness is increasing that internal concentrations or body burdens are the key to understand adverse effects in organisms. In order to link environmental micropollutants as causes of observed effects, there is an increasing demand for methods to analyse these chemicals in organisms. Here, a multi-target screening method based on pulverised liquid extraction (PuLE) and a modified QuEChERS approach with an additional hexane phase was developed. It is capable to extract and quantify organic micropollutants of diverse chemical classes in freshwater invertebrates. The method was tested on gammarids from the Danube River (within the Joint Danube Survey 3) and target compounds were analysed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Furthermore, a non-target screening using high resolution-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS/MS) was conducted. A total of 17 pollutants were detected and/or quantified in gammarids at low concentrations. Pesticide concentrations ranged from 0.1 to 6.52 ng g(-1) (wet weight), those of wastewater-derived pollutants from 0.1 to 2.83 ng g(-1) (wet weight). The presence of wastewater-derived pollutants was prominent at all spots sampled. Using non-target screening, we could successfully identify several chlorinated compounds. These results demonstrate for the first time the presence of pesticides and wastewater-derived pollutants in invertebrates of the Danube River.
authors.affiliation: Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Department Effect-Directed Analysis, Leipzig, Germany; RWTH Aachen University, Department of Ecosystem Analyses, Institute for Environmental Research, Aachen, Germany.
authors.forename: Pedro A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Inostroza
authors.affiliation: Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Department Effect-Directed Analysis, Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Anna-Jorina
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Wicht
authors.affiliation: BOKU University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Institute of Hydrobiology and Aquatic Ecosystem Management (IHG), Wien, Austria.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Huber
authors.affiliation: Romanian Water Authority, Somes-Tisa Directorate, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nagy
authors.affiliation: Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Department Effect-Directed Analysis, Leipzig, Germany; RWTH Aachen University, Department of Ecosystem Analyses, Institute for Environmental Research, Aachen, Germany.
authors.forename: Werner
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Brack
authors.affiliation: Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Department Effect-Directed Analysis, Leipzig, Germany. Electronic address: martin.krauss@ufz.de.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Krauss
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001822:Body Burden; D005591:Chemical Fractionation / Q000379:methods; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid; D005618:Fresh Water; D007448:Invertebrates / Q000737:chemistry*; D010575:Pesticides / Q000032:analysis* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D045483:Rivers / Q000737:chemistry*; D052616:Solid Phase Extraction; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry; D062065:Wastewater / Q000032:analysis*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis* / Q000302:isolation & purification
chemical_list: D010575:Pesticides; D062065:Wastewater; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
keywords: Internal concentrations; Invertebrates; LC-MS/MS; Non-target screening; Organic micropollutants