Aquatic ecotoxicity of pharmaceuticals including the assessment of combination effects

Cleuvers, Michael

doi:10.1016/s0378-4274(03)00068-7

Cited by 797 publications

(379 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…These studies show that chronic carbamazepine exposure effects may occur at concentrations at least 3 orders of magnitude lower than the EC 50 typically reported for acute Daphnia assays (e.g. this paper; Cleuvers, 2002;Jos et al, 2003;, and indicate that, based on estimates of 'predicted no effect concentrations' and 'predicted environmental concentrations' , carbamazepine poses a potential risk to aquatic environments. Given the current findings regarding the comparative ecotoxicities of carbamazepine and its UV-degradation products, this risk could actually be considerably greater than was previously supposed.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 45%

Ecotoxicity of carbamazepine and its UV photolysis transformation products

Donner

Kosjek

Qualmann

et al. 2013

Science of The Total Environment

162

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Carbamazepine, an anti-epileptic pharmaceutical agent commonly found in wastewater, is highly recalcitrant to standard wastewater treatment practices. This study investigated the mixture toxicity of carbamazepine transformation products formed during UV photolysis using three standard ecotoxicity assays (representing bacteria, algae and crustaceans). UV-treatment of 6 mg L -1 carbamazepine solution was carried out over a 120 min period and samples were removed periodically over the course of the experiment. Quantification results confirmed the degradation of carbamazepine throughout the treatment period, together with concurrent increases in acridine and acridone concentrations. Ecotoxicity was shown to increase in parallel with carbamazepine degradation indicating that the mixture of degradation products formed was more toxic than the parent compound. In fact, ecotoxicity was still greater than 60 % for all three endpoints even when the carbamazepine concentration had decreased to < 1 % of the starting concentration, and acridine and acridone had decreased to < 10 % of their maximum measured concentrations. Single compound toxicity testing also confirmed the higher toxicity of measured degradation products relative to the parent compound. These results show that transformation products considerably more toxic than carbamazepine itself are likely to be produced during UV treatment of wastewater effluents and/or photo-induced degradation of carbamazepine in natural waters. This study highlights the need to consider mixture toxicity and the formation and persistence of toxicologically relevant transformation products when assessing the environmental risks posed by pharmaceutical compounds.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 45%

Ecotoxicity of carbamazepine and its UV photolysis transformation products

Donner

Kosjek

Qualmann

et al. 2013

Science of The Total Environment

162

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“…However, in the aquatic environment they are present as a mixture of different therapeutic groups, their metabolites and transformation products, which may have synergic or additive effects, exhibiting higher toxicities than single compounds, even at lower concentrations, as was shown by some authors (Cleuvers, 2003(Cleuvers, , 2004DeLorenzo and Fleming, 2008;Quinn et al, 2009). …”

Section: Environmental Risk Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 92%

Contribution of hospital effluents to the load of pharmaceuticals in urban wastewaters: Identification of ecologically relevant pharmaceuticals

Santos

Gros²,

Rodríguez-Mozaz³

et al. 2013

Science of The Total Environment

502

202

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The impact of effluent wastewaters from four different hospitals: a university (1456 beds), a general (350 beds), a pediatric (110 beds) and a maternity hospital (96 beds), which are conveyed to the same wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), was evaluated in the receiving urban wastewaters. The occurrence of 78 pharma-ceuticals belonging to several therapeutic classes was assessed in hospital effluents and WWTP wastewaters (influent and effluent) as well as the contribution of each hospital in WWTP influent in terms of pharmaceu-tical load. Results indicate that pharmaceuticals are widespread pollutants in both hospital and urban waste-waters. The contribution of hospitals to the input of pharmaceuticals in urban wastewaters widely varies, according to their dimension. The estimated total mass loadings were 306 g d − 1 for the university hospital, 155 g d − 1 for the general one, 14 g d −1 for the pediatric hospital and 1.5 g d − 1 for the maternity hospital, showing that the biggest hospitals have a greater contribution to the total mass load of pharmaceuticals. Fur-thermore, analysis of individual contributions of each therapeutic group showed that NSAIDs, analgesics and antibiotics are among the groups with the highest inputs. Removal efficiency can go from over 90% for pharmaceuticals like acetaminophen and ibuprofen to not removal for β-blockers and salbutamol. Total mass load of pharmaceuticals into receiving surface waters was estimated between 5 and 14 g/d/1000 inhabitants. Finally, the environmental risk posed by pharmaceuticals detected in hospital and WWTP effluents was assessed by means of hazard quotients toward different trophic levels (algae, daphnids and fish). Several pharmaceuticals present in the different matrices were identified as potentially hazardous to aquatic organ-isms, showing that especial attention should be paid to antibiotics such as ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, sulfameth-oxazole, azithromycin and clarithromycin, since their hazard quotients in WWTP effluent revealed that they could pose an ecotoxicological risk to algae.

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“…Prostaglandins also play an important role in the synthesis of bird eggshells and from inhibiting its synthesis, shell thinning has been observed [64]. Among the NSAID, diclofenac showed the most acute toxic nature with effects being observed at concentrations below 100 mg L −1 [65]. Chronic toxicity trials performed on rain-bow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) evidenced cytological changes in the liver, kidneys and gills after 28 days of exposure to just 1 µg L −1 of diclofenac.…”

Section: Non-steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, pharma-ceuticals do not occur alone in the environment, but as a mixture of different active substances, their metabolites and transformation products [23,205,206]. Ecotoxicological data showed that mixtures might have different effects than single compounds [65,70,207], but in general knowledge about the toxicity of the mixture of active substances is still sparse. There are some examples of toxi-city studies in literature showing that mixture of pharmaceuticals at environmentally relevant concentrations may exhibit additive effects [70].…”

Section: Mixture Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In some cases, lower levels than expected may lead to toxic effects when in the presence of a mixture of active sub-stances [70]. For instance, Cleuvers [65] showed that a mixture of diclofenac and ibuprofen had a stronger toxicity than predicted in D. magna, and when the author added more two NSAIDs (naproxen and acetylsalicylic acid) to the last two, a considerable toxicity on Daphnia was also reported, even at concentrations at which the single NSAIDs do not exhibit effects [95]. The exposure of the cnidarian H. attenuata to a mixture of eleven pharmaceuticals, belonging to different therapeutic classes, showed also sub-lethal effects for environmentally relevant concentrations (µg-ng L −1 ) [207].…”

Section: Mixture Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Ecotoxicological aspects related to the presence of pharmaceuticals in the aquatic environment

Santos

Araújo

Fachini

et al. 2010

Journal of Hazardous Materials

1,220

511

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Pharmaceuticals are biologically active and persistent substances which have been recognized as a con-tinuing threat to environmental stability. Chronic ecotoxicity data as well as information on the current distribution levels in different environmental compartments continue to be sparse and are focused on those therapeutic classes that are more frequently prescribed and consumed. Nevertheless, they indicate the negative impact that these chemical contaminants may have on living organisms, ecosystems and ultimately, public health. This article reviews the different contamination sources as well as fate and both acute and chronic effects on nontarget organisms. An extensive review of existing data in the form of tables, encompassing many therapeutic classes is presented.Keywords: Pharmaceuticals, Sources, Environmental fate, Ecotoxicological effects

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Aquatic ecotoxicity of pharmaceuticals including the assessment of combination effects

Cited by 797 publications

References 32 publications

Ecotoxicity of carbamazepine and its UV photolysis transformation products

Ecotoxicity of carbamazepine and its UV photolysis transformation products

Contribution of hospital effluents to the load of pharmaceuticals in urban wastewaters: Identification of ecologically relevant pharmaceuticals

Ecotoxicological aspects related to the presence of pharmaceuticals in the aquatic environment

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