Toxicity of antibiotics, non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) to limnic bacterial communities
(2013) BIOM14 20111Degree Projects in Biology
- Abstract
- ABSTRACT
Anthropogenic pharmaceuticals are common contaminants of aquatic environments. Even though most are not designed to target bacteria, little is known about the sensitivity of naturally occurring freshwater bacteria to these compounds. Limnic bacterial communities were therefore systematically exposed to three antibiotics: bronopol, streptomycin and tetracycline, four non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs): diclofenac, ibuprofen, naproxen, and ketoprofen, and two anti-depressant selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs): sertraline and fluoxetine. Full concentration–response curves with EC50s and EC10s were determined for all pharmaceuticals, using the 3H-leucine incorporation method. All test compounds were toxic... (More) - ABSTRACT
Anthropogenic pharmaceuticals are common contaminants of aquatic environments. Even though most are not designed to target bacteria, little is known about the sensitivity of naturally occurring freshwater bacteria to these compounds. Limnic bacterial communities were therefore systematically exposed to three antibiotics: bronopol, streptomycin and tetracycline, four non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs): diclofenac, ibuprofen, naproxen, and ketoprofen, and two anti-depressant selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs): sertraline and fluoxetine. Full concentration–response curves with EC50s and EC10s were determined for all pharmaceuticals, using the 3H-leucine incorporation method. All test compounds were toxic to planktonic communities of limnic bacteria, with EC50s ranging from 0.55 mg/L for tetracycline to 150 mg/L for naproxen. The order of toxicity was tetracycline > bronopol > streptomycin> sertraline > fluoxetine > ketoprofen > ibupofen > diclofenac > naproxen, based on the individual EC50 values. A comparison to reported chemical monitoring data shows that environmental concentrations of tetracycline are in a range that clearly inhibits the protein biosynthesis activity of planktonic bacterial communities. (Less) - Abstract
- Popular science summary
Are drugs only drugs for human being?
An experiment to see if some of the anthropogenic pharmaceuticals are toxic
contaminants for the aquatic environment.
All kinds of pharmaceuticals have been using widely and the amount has been increased significantly during the last few decades. Concerns about the occurrence of pharmaceuticals releasing into different matrixes of the environment start to rise. You may ask why it is so important to detect the occuurrence of them, is it some kind of overreaction? However, if you think further, large amount of anthropogenic pharmaceuticals are being used every day, large quantity was dumped into nature and accumulated over time. They may become common contaminants in the... (More) - Popular science summary
Are drugs only drugs for human being?
An experiment to see if some of the anthropogenic pharmaceuticals are toxic
contaminants for the aquatic environment.
All kinds of pharmaceuticals have been using widely and the amount has been increased significantly during the last few decades. Concerns about the occurrence of pharmaceuticals releasing into different matrixes of the environment start to rise. You may ask why it is so important to detect the occuurrence of them, is it some kind of overreaction? However, if you think further, large amount of anthropogenic pharmaceuticals are being used every day, large quantity was dumped into nature and accumulated over time. They may become common contaminants in the environment. Even though most are not designed to target bacteria, little is known about the sensitivity of naturally occurring bacteria to these compounds. Therefore, with the same questions we conducted this experiment by systematically exposing limnic bacterial communities to three antibiotics: bronopol, streptomycin and tetracycline, four NSAIDs: ibuprofen, diclofenac, naproxen and ketoprofen, and two SSRIs: sertraline and fluoxetine. The chosen pharmaceuticals are common in both medical and agricultural applicants, and may exert negative effects to non-target organisms. It was therefore the aim of the present study to determine whether the present concentrations ocurring in the aquatic environment are harmful to natural communities of planktonic, limnic bacteria.
Toxic effect was measured by comparing growth with different concentrations of toxicant and without toxicant. The advantage of this method is that it is not essentially needed to know the actual number or biomass of bacteria present in the water, since only relative values are used.
Our results showed that all test compounds were toxic to planktonic communities of limnic bacteria. The order of toxicity was tetracycline > bronopol > streptomycin> sertraline > fluoxetine > ketoprofen > ibupofen > diclofenac > naproxen. A comparison to reported chemical monitoring data shows that environmental concentrations of tetracycline are in a range clearly inhibits the protein biosynthesis activity of planktonic bacterial communities. On the other hand, though the environmental occurrence of anti- inflammatory drugs has increased to a large extent, it may not exert negative effect on limnic bacterial community, which is good news. In general, only very few pharmaceuticals has been assessed in our study. Based on our study only, it would be difficult to derive an exact profile of the possible harms and risks of the pharmaceuticals. But anyway, it is a good starting point, isn’t it?
Advisors: Olof Berglund, Erland Bååth
Master´s Degree Project 30 credits in Ecotoxicology, 2012
Department of Biology, Lund University (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/4194651
- author
- Wang, Mengyi
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- BIOM14 20111
- year
- 2013
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- language
- English
- id
- 4194651
- date added to LUP
- 2013-12-11 15:37:39
- date last changed
- 2013-12-11 15:37:39
@misc{4194651,
abstract = {{Popular science summary
Are drugs only drugs for human being?
An experiment to see if some of the anthropogenic pharmaceuticals are toxic
contaminants for the aquatic environment.
All kinds of pharmaceuticals have been using widely and the amount has been increased significantly during the last few decades. Concerns about the occurrence of pharmaceuticals releasing into different matrixes of the environment start to rise. You may ask why it is so important to detect the occuurrence of them, is it some kind of overreaction? However, if you think further, large amount of anthropogenic pharmaceuticals are being used every day, large quantity was dumped into nature and accumulated over time. They may become common contaminants in the environment. Even though most are not designed to target bacteria, little is known about the sensitivity of naturally occurring bacteria to these compounds. Therefore, with the same questions we conducted this experiment by systematically exposing limnic bacterial communities to three antibiotics: bronopol, streptomycin and tetracycline, four NSAIDs: ibuprofen, diclofenac, naproxen and ketoprofen, and two SSRIs: sertraline and fluoxetine. The chosen pharmaceuticals are common in both medical and agricultural applicants, and may exert negative effects to non-target organisms. It was therefore the aim of the present study to determine whether the present concentrations ocurring in the aquatic environment are harmful to natural communities of planktonic, limnic bacteria.
Toxic effect was measured by comparing growth with different concentrations of toxicant and without toxicant. The advantage of this method is that it is not essentially needed to know the actual number or biomass of bacteria present in the water, since only relative values are used.
Our results showed that all test compounds were toxic to planktonic communities of limnic bacteria. The order of toxicity was tetracycline > bronopol > streptomycin> sertraline > fluoxetine > ketoprofen > ibupofen > diclofenac > naproxen. A comparison to reported chemical monitoring data shows that environmental concentrations of tetracycline are in a range clearly inhibits the protein biosynthesis activity of planktonic bacterial communities. On the other hand, though the environmental occurrence of anti- inflammatory drugs has increased to a large extent, it may not exert negative effect on limnic bacterial community, which is good news. In general, only very few pharmaceuticals has been assessed in our study. Based on our study only, it would be difficult to derive an exact profile of the possible harms and risks of the pharmaceuticals. But anyway, it is a good starting point, isn’t it?
Advisors: Olof Berglund, Erland Bååth
Master´s Degree Project 30 credits in Ecotoxicology, 2012
Department of Biology, Lund University}},
author = {{Wang, Mengyi}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Toxicity of antibiotics, non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) to limnic bacterial communities}},
year = {{2013}},
}