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Wu F, Zhou Z, Zhang S, Cheng F, Tong Y, Li L, Zhang B, Zeng X, Li H, Wang D, Yu Z, You J. Toxicity identification evaluation for hydraulic fracturing flowback and produced water during shale gas exploitation in China: Evidence from tissue residues and gene expression. WATER RESEARCH 2023; 241:120170. [PMID: 37290192 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2023.120170] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2023] [Revised: 05/31/2023] [Accepted: 06/02/2023] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Hydraulic fracturing flowback and produced water (HF-FPW) from shale gas extraction processes is a highly complex medium with potential threats to the environment. Current research on ecological risks of FPW in China is limited, and the link between major components of FPW and their toxicological effects on freshwater organisms is largely unknown. By integrating chemical and biological analyses, toxicity identification evaluation (TIE) was used to reveal causality between toxicity and contaminants, potentially disentangling the complex toxicological nature of FPW. Here, FPW from different shale gas wells, treated FPW effluent, and a leachate from HF sludge were collected from southwest China, and TIE was applied to obtain a comprehensive toxicity evaluation in freshwater organisms. Our results showed that FPW from the same geographic zone could cause significantly different toxicity. Salinity, solid phase particulates, and organic contaminants were identified as the main contributors to the toxicity of FPW. In addition to water chemistry, internal alkanes, PAHs, and HF additives (e.g., biocides and surfactants) were quantified in exposed embryonic fish by target and non-target tissue analyses. The treated FPW failed to mitigate the toxicity associated with organic contaminants. Transcriptomic results illustrated that organic compounds induced toxicity pathways in FPW-exposed embryonic zebrafish. Similar zebrafish gene ontologies were affected between treated and untreated FPW, again confirming that sewage treatment did not effectively remove organic chemicals from FPW. Thus, zebrafish transcriptome analyses revealed organic toxicant-induced adverse outcome pathways and served as evidence for TIE confirmation in complex mixtures under data-poor scenarios.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fan Wu
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Health, School of Environment, Jinan University, Guangzhou 511443, China
| | - Zhimin Zhou
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Health, School of Environment, Jinan University, Guangzhou 511443, China
| | - Shaoqiong Zhang
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Health, School of Environment, Jinan University, Guangzhou 511443, China
| | - Fei Cheng
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Health, School of Environment, Jinan University, Guangzhou 511443, China
| | - Yujun Tong
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Health, School of Environment, Jinan University, Guangzhou 511443, China
| | - Liang Li
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Health, School of Environment, Jinan University, Guangzhou 511443, China
| | - Biao Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China
| | - Xiangying Zeng
- State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China
| | - Huizhen Li
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Health, School of Environment, Jinan University, Guangzhou 511443, China
| | - Dali Wang
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Health, School of Environment, Jinan University, Guangzhou 511443, China
| | - Zhiqiang Yu
- State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China
| | - Jing You
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Health, School of Environment, Jinan University, Guangzhou 511443, China.
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Zhang L, Brooks BW, Liu F, Zhou Z, Li H, You J. Human Apparent Volume of Distribution Predicts Bioaccumulation of Ionizable Organic Chemicals in Zebrafish Embryos. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2022; 56:11547-11558. [PMID: 35896009 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.2c03421] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Chemicals with elevated bioaccumulation profiles present potential hazards to public health and the environment. Ionizable organic compounds (IOCs) increasingly represent a large proportion of commercial chemicals; however, historical approaches for bioaccumulation determinations are mainly developed for neutral chemicals, which were not appropriate for IOCs. Herein, we employed the zebrafish embryo, a common vertebrate model in environmental and biomedical studies, to elucidate toxicokinetics and bioconcentration of eight IOCs with diverse physicochemical properties and pharmacokinetic parameters. At an environmentally relevant pH (7.5), most IOCs exhibited rapid uptake and depuration in zebrafish, suggesting the ionized forms of IOCs are readily bioavailable. Bioconcentration factors (BCF) of these IOCs ranged from 0.0530 to 250 L·kg-1 wet weight. The human pharmacokinetic proportionality factor, apparent volume of distribution (VD), better predicted the BCF of selected IOCs than more commonly used hydrophobicity-based parameters (e.g., pH-dependent octanol-water distribution ratio, Dow). Predictive bioaccumulation models for IOCs were constructed and validated using VD alone or with Dow. Significant relationships between fish BCF and human VD, which is readily available for pharmaceuticals, highlighted the utility of biologically based "read-across" approaches for predicting bioaccumulative potential of IOCs. Our novel findings thus provided an understanding of the partitioning behavior and improved predictive bioconcentration modeling for IOCs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ling Zhang
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Health, School of Environment, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 511443, China
| | - Bryan W Brooks
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Health, School of Environment, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 511443, China
- Department of Environmental Science, Institute of Biomedical Studies, Center for Reservoir and Aquatic Systems Research, Baylor University, Waco, Texas 76798, United States
| | - Fen Liu
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Health, School of Environment, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 511443, China
| | - Zhimin Zhou
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Health, School of Environment, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 511443, China
| | - Huizhen Li
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Health, School of Environment, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 511443, China
| | - Jing You
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Health, School of Environment, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 511443, China
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