Product-to-parent reversion of trenbolone: unrecognized risks for endocrine disruption

Trenbolone acetate (TBA) is a high-value steroidal growth promoter often administered to beef cattle, whose metabolites are potent endocrine-disrupting compounds. We performed laboratory and field phototransformation experiments to assess the fate of TBA metabolites and their photoproducts. Unexpectedly, we observed that the rapid photohydration of TBA metabolites is reversible under conditions representative of those in surface waters (pH 7, 25°C). This product-to-parent reversion mechanism results in diurnal cycling and substantial regeneration of TBA metabolites at rates that are strongly temperature- and pH-dependent. Photoproducts can also react to produce structural analogs of TBA metabolites. These reactions also occur in structurally similar steroids, including human pharmaceuticals, which suggests that predictive fate models and regulatory risk assessment paradigms must account for transformation products of high-risk environmental contaminants such as endocrine-disrupting steroids.