Abstract
Estrogenic activity on the surface of Songhua River, China water was investigated. The estrogenic activity was detected in some samples by yeast two-hybrid assay, and natural estrogen (estrone) was detected by gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC/MS/MS). The natural estrogen seemed to originate from fecal contamination. On the basis of this supposition, we attempted to detect 10 fecal sterols in these estrogenic samples by GC/MS. The results varied depending on the source of samples and the season. However, sample C collected in January showed a high concentration of β sitosterol. This implied that there are large dairy farming or stockbreeding sites along Nenjiang River in comparison with those along Di'er Songhua River. These results were consistent with those reported in literature and showed the possibility of determining the origin of fecal contamination by fecal sterol analysis.
