Bisphenol A(BPA) is one of the highest volume industrial products worldwide and has been widely used to make various products as the intermediates of polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins.Inevitably, general population has been widely exposed to BPA due to extensive use of BPAcontaining products. BPA has similar chemical structure with the natural estrogen and has been shown to induce a variety of estrogen-like endocrine effects on organism in vivo or in vitro. High doses of BPA tend to act as antagonist of estrogen receptors(ERs) by directly regulating the genomic transcription. However, BPA at environmentally relevant low-dose always disrupt the biological function via a non-genomic manner mediated by membrane receptors, rather than ERs. Although some studies had investigated the non-genomic effects of low-dose BPA, the exact molecular mechanism still remains unclear. Recently, we found that membrane G protein-coupled estrogen receptor 1 and integrin αvβ3 and its relative signal pathways participate in the induction of male germ cell proliferation and thyroid transcription disruption by the low-dose BPA. A profound understanding for the mechanism of action of the environmentally relevant BPA exposure not only contributes to objectively evaluate and predict the potential influence to human health, but also provides theoretical basis and methodological support for assessing health effects trigged by other estrogen-like environmental endocrine disruptors. Based mainly on our recent findings, this review outlines the research progress of molecular mechanism on endocrine disrupting effects of environmental low-dose BPA, existing problems and some consideration for future studies.
Concentrations of Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans（PCDD/Fs） and polychlorinated biphenyls（PCBs） in soil samples from Tibetan Plateau were determined. The average concentration of total 2,3,7,8-PCDD/Fs was（2.30 ± 1.02） pg/g, and World Health Organization Toxicity Equivalency（WHO-TEQ） average concentration was（0.013 ± 0.010）pg WHO-TEQ/g. The average concentration of ∑PCBs（7 indicator PCB and 12 dioxin like-PCB congeners） was（16.2 ± 9.25） pg/g, and WHO-TEQ average concentration was 0.043 ±0.049 pg WHO-TEQ/g. Comparing to previous studies in similar environmental conditions,PCDD/Fs and PCBs in this study showed a relatively lower concentration. The altitude dependences of PCDD/Fs and PCBs were also studied. Total organic carbon（TOC） normalized concentrations presented a quadratic relation with the altitudes, and an inflection could be found on the parabola of the total concentrations and some congeners of high concentration.The concentrations decreased with altitudes below about 4500 m above sea level（a.s.l.）, while they increased with altitudes above it. These phenomena indicate that cold condensation of PCDD/Fs and PCBs would happen above 4500 m a.s.l, on the Tibetan Plateau.
Zhenyu TianHaifeng LiHuiting XieChen TangYing HanMengjing WangWenbin Liu
An on-line solid phase extraction-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method for the analysis of perfluoroalkyl substances（PFASs） in water samples was developed.The optimal analytical conditions were obtained through the optimization of the extraction efficiency of online solid phase extraction column,sample loading rate and loading volume,and the concentration of ammonium acetate in mobile phase.Under the optimal condition,the analytical method displayed good linearity（r^2〉0.99） for 12 PFASs（C5-C14 perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids and C6/C8 perfluoroalkyl sulfonic acids） over a concentration range of 0.5-100 ng/L.The limits of quantitation for samples were between 0.025 ng/L and 0.5 ng/L and the relative standard deviations（RSD） of five consecutive analyses were less than 10%for 1 ng/L standard solution.Satisfactory results were obtained using this analytical method for the analysis of perfluoroalkyl substances in Antarctic ice core samples.The recoveries of all perfluoroalkyl substances were in a range of 73%-117%when the samples were spiked with standards at the concentrations of 2.5 ng/L and 25 ng/L.
Insights from the adverse effect of humic acid （HA） on arsenate removal with hydrous ferric oxide （HFO） coprecipitation can further our understanding of the fate of As（V） in water treatment process. The motivation of our study is to explore the competitive adsorption mechanisms of humic acid and As（V） on HFO on the molecular scale. Multiple complementary techniques were used including macroscopic adsorption experiments, surface enhanced Raman scattering （SERS）, extended X-ray absorption fine structure （EXAFS） spectroscopy, flow-cell attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared （ATR-FTIR） measurement, and charge distribution multisite complexation （CD- MUSIC） modeling. The As（V） removal efficiency was reduced from over 95% to about 10% with the increasing HA concentration to 25 times of As（V） mass concentration. The SERS analysis excluded the HA-As（V） complex formation. The EXAFS results indicate that As（V） formed bidentate binuclear surface complexes in the presence of HA as evidenced by an As-Fe distance of 3.26--3.31 ,~. The in situ ATR-FTIR measurements show that As（V） replaces surface hydroxyl groups and forms inner- sphere complex. High concentrations of HA may physically block the surface sites and inhibit the As（V） access. The adsorption of As（V） and HA decreased the point of zero charge of HFO from 7.8 to 5.8 and 6.3, respectively. The CD-MUSIC model described the zeta potential curves and adsorption edges of As（V） and HA reasonably well.
Jingjing DuChuanyong JingJinming DuanYongli ZhangShan Hu
