Seasonal Occurrence of Ibuprofen in Sediment, Water, and Biota in River Owena and Ogbese, and its Ecological Risk Assessment

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>The volume of pharmaceuticals discharged into the environment increases daily as a consequence of human life. In the present study, the seasonal variation of ibuprofen in sediment, biota, water, and their exposure risk were investigated in River Owena and Ogbese, Nigeria. The high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to a mass spectrometer (HPLC-MS/MS) was used to analyze the samples after clean up and pre-concentration by solid-phase extraction. The mean concentration of IBU in the samples spanned a range of 1.75 - 2.75 μg/g in sediment, 0.01 – 15.00 μg/g in fish, and 0.00002 – 0.005 μg/ml in water. The measurement of IBU in the sediment and water was significantly elevated in the dry season than the wet season, whereas the opposite was the case in biota. There was a significant interaction between season, media, and rivers with respect to IBU occurrence in the sampled rivers. The calculated bio-water accumulation factor (BWAF) was as high as 750,000 μg/g in fish, proving IBU is extremely bio-accumulative. The ecotoxicological risk assessment for average and worst possible outcome showed that the risk quotient (RQ) for IBU present in the water was sufficient to cause toxicity to fish in both freshwater bodies. The potential bioavailability of IBU to aquatic fauna for prolonged periods spanning several months can result in its circling back into the food web afterward. The baseline info provided by this study in these freshwaters may provide valuable information for the implementation of safety limits for the management of IBU influx into the environment.</jats:p>

Occurrence and risk assessment of selected pharmaceuticals in water and sediments of Usuma Dam, Abuja, Nigeria

“…It is one of the most consumed drugs in the world and has been found in higher concentration than other analgesics in similar studies in Africa [64,[68][69][70]. Ibuprofen concentration reported in the sediments of Mbokodweni river (9.2 ng/g) and Owena river (2.74 µg/g) was also higher than the concentration in the corresponding water samples [71,72].…”

Contaminants of Emerging Concern in African Wastewater Effluents: Occurrence, Impact and Removal Technologies

“…Overall, as far as NSAIDs are concerned, and based on the previously reported studies and others [26][27][28], ibuprofen seems to be one of the most frequently detected NSAIDs in African wastewater. As a consequence, and due to the inefficiency of WWTPs in removing such pharmaceutical drugs, traces of ibuprofen, paracetamol, and other NSAIDs have been detected in African rivers in South Africa and Nairobi River basin in Kenya [29,30].…”

A computational analysis of the molecular mechanisms underlying the effects of ibuprofen and dibutyl phthalate on gene expression in fish

“…IBU is a major drug detected in aquatic ecosystems due to its high consumption and excretion rate (∼70–80 % of the therapeutic dose) [ 11 ]. IBU has been found in surface waters near sewage effluent releases in Nigeria at 0.02–79.45 μg/L and in Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Britain, and the US at 0.0002–5.04 μg/L [ [13] , [14] , [15] ]. According to Zur et al [ 16 ], IBU was found in receiving waters at a mean concentration of 0.98–67 μg/L in Canada and Greece, 1.0–67 μg/L in Greece, <15–414 μg/L in Korea, and 5.0–280 μg/L in Taiwan.…”