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TECHNICAL REPORTS

Organic Compounds in the Environment

Persistence and Pathways of Testosterone Dissipation in Agricultural Soil

Southern Crop Protection and Food Research Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 1391 Sandford Street, London, ON, Canada N5V 4T3

^* Corresponding author (toppe{at}agr.gc.ca)

Received for publication August 25, 2004. The persistence and pathways of dissipation of testosterone in three agricultural soils were examined in laboratory microcosm incubations at different soil moistures (1.7–39%) and temperatures (4–30°C) using ¹⁴C- and ³H-labeled and unlabeled testosterone. Sterilized loam was also examined to assess possible abiotic pathways. Extractable ¹⁴C decreased rapidly for all three soils at 30°C with times to dissipate 50% of material (DT₅₀) ranging from 8.5 to 21 h. Respired ¹⁴CO₂ accounted for approximately 50% of the applied ¹⁴C after 120 h. Androgenic activity of soil extracts declined faster than the extractable ¹⁴C levels demonstrating that testosterone was not being converted to compounds with greater activity. Dissipation rates of nonvolatile, extractable ³H in loam at 7, 15, and 39% moisture were similar, but the rate in air-dried loam (1.7% moisture) was significantly reduced. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis of extracts of ¹⁴C-testosterone-treated loam incubated at 30°C for 6 h revealed that the ¹⁴C was distributed among the remaining testosterone and three major metabolites (4-androstene-3,17-dione, 5-androstane-3,17-dione, and 1,4-androstadiene-3,17-dione), which accounted for 48.7, 23.7, and 9.6% of the remaining ¹⁴C, respectively. Periodic analysis of soil incubated at 23, 12, and 4°C showed that the rates of testosterone dissipation and metabolite appearance and subsequent dissipation were temperature dependent with rates decreasing with decreasing temperature. In sterilized loam, 4-androstene-3,17-dione was the only metabolite detected. We conclude that testosterone is rapidly and thoroughly biodegraded in agricultural soils under a range of conditions typical of a temperate growing season and thus is unlikely to pose a long-term risk to adjacent aquatic environments.

Abbreviations: DT₅₀, time to dissipate 50% of material • HPLC, high performance liquid chromatography • LSC, liquid scintillation counting • RD, radioactivity detection

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JEQ 2005 34: ix. [Full Text]  

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