Concentration and distribution characteristics of estrogen in aquatic organism from Chongming island

Five typical estrogens, including estrone (E1), 17β-estradiol (E2), estriol (E3), 17α-ethynyl estradiol (EE2) and bisphenol A (BPA), were simultaneously determined in typical aquatic organisms from Chongming Island by ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography equipped with tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS²). The distribution pattern of estrogens was studied and preliminary heath risk assessment was discussed. The results showed that the total dry weight concentrations of estrogens were from 1.1 ng·g^-1 to 7.38 ng·g^-1 with a mean of 4.25 ng·g^-1. The lipid content-standardized estrogens concentrations were in the range of 5.01-83.41 ng·g^-1 with a mean of 40.75 ng·g^-1, showing a descending order of fish>shrimp>crab. Fish and crab, fish and shrimp showed a significant difference in lipid content-standardized estrogen concentrations, whereas no significant difference was found between crab and shrimp. Compared to BPA, the dry weight concentrations of steroids (E1, E2, E3 and EE2) were found at lower levels (0.17-0.69 ng·g^-1) with lower detection frequency (<66.67%) in aquatic organisms from Chongming Island. In contrast, the detection rate of BPA reached 100%, and the average dry weight concentration detected was 2.60 ng·g^-1. The results of health risk assessment showed the concentration of estrogens in aquatic products from Chongming Island could not cause any adverse population-level effects.