Occurrence, Bioaccumulation, Metabolism and Ecotoxicity of Fluoroquinolones in the Aquatic Environment: A Review

Abstract

In recent years, there has been growing concern about antibiotic contamination in water bodies, particularly the widespread presence of fluoroquinolones (FQs), which pose a serious threat to ecosystems due to their extensive use and the phenomenon of “pseudo-persistence”. This article provides a comprehensive review of the literature on FQs in water bodies, summarizing and analyzing contamination levels of FQs in global surface water over the past three years, as well as the bioaccumulation and metabolism patterns of FQs in aquatic organisms, their ecological toxicity, and the influencing factors. The results show that FQs contamination is widespread in surface water across the surveyed 32 countries, with ciprofloxacin and norfloxacin being the most heavy contaminants. Furthermore, contamination levels are generally higher in developing and developed countries. It has been observed that compound types, species, and environmental factors influence the bioaccumulation, metabolism, and toxicity of FQs in aquatic organisms. FQs tend to accumulate more in organisms with higher lipid content, and toxicity experiments have shown that FQs exhibit the highest toxicity to bacteria and the weakest toxicity to mollusk. This article summarizes and analyzes the current research status and shortcomings of FQs, providing guidance and theoretical support for future research directions.

A Review on Fluoroquinolones’ Toxicity to Freshwater Organisms and a Risk Assessment

“…A reproduction study exposing the snail Potamopyrgus antipodarum for 52 days to 0.8 μg L −1 ciprofloxacin elicited no effects [ 306 ]. Overall, and considering also data obtained on marine mollusks, almost 75% of the tested FQs demonstrated negligible toxicity to this taxon [ 24 ].…”

“…The red spot size indicates the concentration range (see inset). Data are obtained from [ 24 , 25 , 33 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 46 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 , 79 , 80 , 81 , 82 , 83 , 84 , 85 , 86 , 87 , 88 , 89 , 90 , 91 , 92 , 93 , 94 , 95 , 96 , 97 , 98 , ...…”

“…In light of these concerns, the primary objective of this paper is to provide a comprehensive and critical review of the existing knowledge regarding the presence of FQs in the aquatic environment and their toxic effects on freshwater organisms. For this purpose, a database on drug concentrations in the environment [ 22 ] was used as the main reference point for environmental contamination, whilst published data on toxic effects in freshwater organisms were retrieved based on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) ecotoxicological database [ 23 ], the supplementary material of a recent review on FQs [ 24 ], and with the help of various search engines, by using the keywords “fluoroquinolones, environment, freshwater, ecotoxicity” to retrieve the relevant literature. The main criteria for selecting articles on contamination levels were the precise location of the sampling and validation of the analytical method reported; whilst for articles on toxic effects, the availability of accurate measures of acute toxicity (EC 50 ) and/or a clear description of the mechanisms involved were discriminative.…”

“…Of the numerous FQs, only 11 (ciprofloxacin, clinafloxacin, enrofloxacin, flumequine, gatifloxacin, levofloxacin, lomefloxacin, moxifloxacin, norfloxacin, ofloxacin, and sarafloxacin) were considered for risk assessment, taking into account the availability of data on both their presence in the environment and toxicity to freshwater organisms. Recently, various reviews have been published on FQs in the environment [ 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 ]. This one may complement them by focusing on the freshwater ecosystem, giving a broad picture of the historical contamination (first quarter of the current century) in Europe, Asia, and the USA, accurately updating the mechanisms of toxicity in non-target species, and performing a novel risk assessment based on a normalized Species Sensitivity Distribution.…”

Toxicity of Metal Oxides, Dyes, and Dissolved Organic Matter in Water: Implications for the Environment and Human Health

“…Impact on fish framing [119,120] The toxicity of DOM in human health and aquatic life varies depending on the specific compound. While DOM is a natural component of aquatic ecosystems, human-induced activities contribute significantly to its increased presence [121]. The interactions between DOM and metal oxides, as well as other contaminants, can lead to the formation of toxic complexes, impacting the overall health of aquatic ecosystems [122].…”