Assessing the impact of wastewater treatment plant effluent on downstream drinking water-source quality using a zebrafish (Danio Rerio) liver cell-based metabolomics approach.
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ABSTRACT: Cell-based metabolomics was used in a proof-of-concept fashion to investigate the biological effects of contaminants as they traveled from a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) discharge to a drinking water treatment plant (DWTP) intake in a surface-water usage cycle. Zebrafish liver (ZFL) cells were exposed to water samples collected along a surface-water flowpath, where a WWTP was located ?14.5?km upstream of a DWTP. The sampling sites included: 1) upstream of the WWTP, 2) the WWTP effluent discharging point, 3) a proximal location downstream of the WWTP outfall, 4) a distal location downstream of the WWTP outfall, 5) the drinking water intake, and 6) the treated drinking water collected prior to discharge to the distribution system. After a 48-h laboratory exposure, the hydrophilic and lipophilic metabolites in ZFL cell extracts were analyzed by proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) spectroscopy and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), respectively. Multivariate statistical analysis revealed distinct changes in metabolite profiles in response to WWTP effluent exposure. These effects on the hydrophilic metabolome gradually diminished downstream of the WWTP, becoming non-significant at the drinking water intake (comparable to upstream of the WWTP, p?=?0.98). However, effects on the lipophilic metabolome increased significantly as the river flowed from the distal location downstream of the WWTP to the drinking water intake (p?
SUBMITTER: Zhen H
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7017645 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Nov
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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