Levels Of 17β Steroid And Alkylphenol Estrogenic Endocrine Disrupting Compounds In Nairobi River
Kipyegon A.N, Mutembei H.M., Tsuma V.T and Oduma A
Full Length Research Paper I Published October,2016
Journal of Physical Science and Environmental Studies Vol. 2 (3), pp. 46-49
ABSTRACT
Water polluted with endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs)
has been demonstrated to cause reproductive problems in
humans and wildlife. Rivers flowing through urban
settlements have been shown to contain contaminated
discharges from domestic, agricultural and industrial
sources. Such discharges are suspected to have high levels
of EDCs. The residents living along the riparian of rivers
in urban settlements tend to use the water of such rivers
for farming to enhance their household incomes. Together
with vegetable farming, the residents also keep animals such
as pigs. This practice has been noticed within the riparian
of the Nairobi River, which is heavily polluted and in some
places, resembling sewage sludge. The Nairobi river
situation was suspected to expose humans, who consume either
the vegetables and/or the animals to effects of EDCs. More
direct are the effects of known EDCs, like alkyl phenol and
17β estradiol, on the animals raised using the polluted
water. Our previous studies noted that boars raised using
the Nairobi River had high prevalence of retained testes and
high incidence of testicular histopathology. To test if such
effects were caused by EDCs within the water, samples were
obtained to determine the levels of these two compounds.
Samples were collected from Nairobi River along informal
settlements of Kibera, Dandora and Mathare using glass amber
bottles and transported to the laboratory at 4ºc. Water was
then analyzed to determine the pollution levels of two known
EDCs (17β steroid and alkylphenol) using Gas
chromatography-Mass Spectrophotometry. The levels of
alkylphenol and 17β estradiol in the sampled water were
between 0.08 to 0.917µg/L and below detection limit (BDL) to
0.3005 µg/L for 17β –estradiol alkylphenol, respectively.
The mean values were 0.0953µg/L and 0.360µg/L for 17β
steroid and alkylphenol, respectively. The detected levels
of 17β steroid and alkylphenol point towards a suggestion
that the effects observed in the boars raised along such
riparian are caused by estrogenic endocrine disrupting
coumpounds and the need to have a policy in place to control
effects of such EDCs like 17β estradiol and alkylphenol on
humans and/or animals.
Key words: Endocrine disrupting compounds, Urban
river pollution, 17β-Estradiol, Alkyphenol and Reproduction.
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Pearl Journal of Management, Social Science and Humanities (PJMSSH)