本研究利用基因重組酵母菌檢測臺灣河川水體及底泥之視網酸X受體干擾物質與甲狀腺荷爾蒙受體干擾物質，並使用液相層析儀分離具有高干擾活性之樣本，以詳細調查水體和底泥中受體干擾物質之分布，期能找出具有視網酸X受體或甲狀腺荷爾蒙受體干擾活性之物質。
實驗結果顯示河川水體或底泥樣本中均存在具視網酸X受體促進活性與拮抗活性之物質，水樣之視網酸X受體促進活性介於1.5-2.5之間，視網酸X受體拮抗活性介於35-75%之間，以二仁溪(ER)與阿公店溪(AGD)水樣之促進或拮抗活性較高。底泥樣本之視網酸X受體促進活性介於1.5-3.1之間，拮抗活性介於65-75%之間，較高活性同樣於二仁溪與阿公店溪底泥樣本中檢出。甲狀腺荷爾蒙受體促進活性在水樣或底泥樣本中皆無明顯測得，拮抗活性則只在二仁溪與淡水河樣本中測得，介於 65-75%之間。
ER1、ER7水樣及AGD2底泥樣本同時具有視網酸X受體促進與拮抗活性，經液相層析儀分離後，高受體干擾活性皆於第21-25分鐘收集之分段樣本中測得。此外， ER1、ER7水樣的拮抗活性皆高於其促進活性，而AGD2底泥樣本結果較為特殊，其中於2012年4月及10月採樣之底泥樣本同時具有明顯的促進與拮抗活性，拮抗活性<75%且 促進活性接近2。
具有高視網酸X受體促進活性之AGD2-Jan-13與拮抗活性之ER7-Mar-12，以HPLC層析圖上出現的波峰為依據收集分段樣本，並再次進行干擾活性試驗後，發現AGD2-Jan-13之分段樣本有明顯的視網酸X受體促進活性，而ER7-Mar-12分段樣本具有顯著的視網酸X受體拮抗活性。於具有高視網酸X受體促進活性樣本中發現數支波峰，進一步利用LC-MS/MS進行分析後， m/z=338.00的可能物質為Lobeline，將其進行 RXRα促進活性測試，結果發現Lobeline於最高濃度1 mM下才與空白樣本有明顯的差異，可能需要在更高濃度下才能有明顯誘發。

The aim of this study was to isolate the major compounds that contributed to high agonist and antagonist activities of the retinoid X receptors (RXR) or the thyroid hormone receptors (TR) from river water and sediment samples collected at the aquatic environment of Taiwan. The following three processes were used to achieve the goal.
A. To investigate the distribution of RXR/TR agonists and antagonists in Danshuei River, Yanshuei River, Erren River, Agongdian River and Gaoping River by reporter gene assays.
B. To separate potential RXR/TR ligand candidates from environmental samples using HPLC fractionation.
C. To identify emerging contaminants showing RXR/TR disrupting activity by LC-MS/MS.
RXR agonist and antagonist activities were found in most of the water and sediment samples. For water samples, the RXR agonist and antagonist activities ranged from 1.5 to 2.5 and 35% to 75% respectively. Higher RXR activities were detected in samples taken at Erren River (ER) and Agongdian River (AGD), and the water samples of ER1, ER7 and the sediment samples of AGD2 showed both RXR agonist and antagonist activities. TR agonist activities were not found in most of the water and sediment samples. However, TR antagonist activities were discovered in samples of Erren River and Danshuei River.
Samples showing high RXR/TR activities such as ER1, ER7, AGD2 and AGD3 were selected for HPLC fractionation and the substances which induced RXR/TR agonist and antagonist activities were present in the 21-25 min fraction. The AGD2-Jan-13 sediment sample and the ER7-Mar-12 water sample were further chosen to investigate the major compounds that induced high RXR agonist or antagonist activities, and many unknown compounds were detected in the two samples by using LC-MS/MS.

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