Response and recovery of fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas) following early life exposure to water and sediment found within agricultural runoff from the Elkhorn River, Nebraska, USA Jonathan M. Ali a , Del L. D'Souza b , Kendall Schwarz b , Luke G. Allmon b , Rajeev P. Singh c , Daniel D. Snow d , Shannon L. Bartelt-Hunt e , Alan S. Kolok a,b,f, ⁎ a Department of Environmental, Agricultural and Occupational Health, University of Nebraska - Medical Center, Omaha, NE 68198-6805, United States b Department of Biology, University of Nebraska at Omaha, Omaha, NE 68182-0040, United States c Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221005, India d Nebraska Water Center, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68583-0844, United States e Department of Civil Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Peter Kiewit Institute, Omaha, NE 68182-0178, United States f Idaho Water Resources Research Institute, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID 83844-3002, United States HIGHLIGHTS • Fathead minnow larvae were exposed to contaminated water and sediment using a factorial design. • Water and sediments were collect from a seasonally occurring agricultural run- off event. • Pesticide concentrations were discor- dant between the aqueous and sedi- ment matrices as determined by GC/ MS analysis. • Larval fish exposure to water and sedi- ment resulted in matrix-specific effects on endocrine-responsive gene expres- sion. • Fish exhibited recovery following early life exposure to contaminated water and sediment. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT abstract article info Article history: Received 3 August 2017 Received in revised form 16 September 2017 Accepted 24 September 2017 Available online xxxx Editor: Henner Hollert Agricultural runoff is a non-point source of chemical contaminants that are seasonally detected in surface water and sediments. Agrichemicals found within seasonal runoff can elicit endocrine disrupting effects in organisms as adults, juveniles and larvae. The objectives of this study were (1) to determine if exposure to water, sediment or the water-sediment combination collected from an agricultural runoff event was responsible for changes in endocrine-responsive gene expression and development in fathead minnow larvae, and (2) whether such early life exposure leads to adverse effects as adults. Larvae were exposed during the first month post-hatch to water and sediment collected from the Elkhorn River and then allowed to depurate in filtered water until reaching sexual maturity, exemplifying a best-case recovery scenario. Gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC/MS) analysis of the water and sediment samples detected 12 pesticides including atrazine, acetochlor, metolachlor and dimethenamid. In minnow larvae, exposure to river water upregulated androgen receptor gene expression whereas exposure to the sediment downregulated estrogen receptor α expression. Adult males previously exposed to both water and sediment were feminized through the induction of an ovipositor Keywords: Sediment toxicity Pesticides Herbicides Science of the Total Environment xxx (2017) xxx–xxx ⁎ Corresponding author at: Idaho Water Resources Research Institute, University of Idaho, 875 Perimeter Dr, Moscow, ID 83844-3002, United States. E-mail address: akolok@uidaho.edu (A.S. Kolok). STOTEN-24147; No of Pages 11 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.09.259 0048-9697/© 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Science of the Total Environment journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/scitotenv Please cite this article as: Ali, J.M., et al., Response and recovery of fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas..., Sci Total Environ (2017), https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.09.259