Vliv chemikálií přítomných ve výtocích z čistíren odpadních vod na ryby

There are many compounds that are used or produced by humans, e.g. pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) which are used in large quantities around the world. These compounds end up in waste waters and enter sewage treatment plants (STPs). But not all of these compounds are removed during the treatment processes in STP and they enter the aquatic environment via sewage effluents. The thesis is focused especially on evaluation of presence and potential toxicological effects of PPCPs in aquatic environment. The risk assessment for a single compound is usually based on laboratory experiments. The first tested compound was verapamil, a pharmaceutical for lowering blood pressure and treatment of cardiac diseases. Two types of tests were carried out, an acute one with high concentration levels and a sub-chronic one with levels that included environmentally relevant concentration. After the exposure, common carp larvae and embryos showed malformation and edemas and the heart rate was decreased. According to 96hLC50, the verapamil could be classified as a harmful or toxic substance. The second tested substance was UV filter 2 phenylbenzimidazole-5-sulfonic acid which was found at relatively high concentrations in south Bohemian surface waters. In spite of very low bioconcentration of PBSA in fish, activities of 7-ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase, 7-methoxyresorufin-O-deethylase and 7-penthoxyresorufin-O-deethylase in exposed rainbow trout were increased which indicate that activity of cytochromes P450 were affected even in environmentally relevant concentration. In a real aquatic system, fish are exposed to waters which contain not only a single pollutant but a mixture of them. A consequent experiment was carried out on rainbow trout caged in effluent for 13 days from STP in Gothenburg, the second biggest STP in Sweden. The concentration of selected antidepressants was measured in different fish tissues and plasma. Citalopram, sertraline and venlafaxine were found in fish brain and liver. As these antidepressants are used for the treatment of psychical disorders, behavior of fish could be affected. The limitations of these experiments, even with real water with a mixture of chemicals, are that fish are stressed in aquaria or cages and the exposure via the food chain is not included. Benthic organisms are an important part of fish diet. The impact of pollution on benthic organisms is often studied. However, there is limited knowledge about the bioaccumulation of pharmaceuticals in the benthos and consequently in fish. Therefore bioaccumulation in Hydropsyche and Erpobdella was studied. These organisms were collected in non-polluted and in effluent affected localities. Antibiotics azithromycin and clarithromycin, cardio-vascular drug verapamil, antifungal drug clotrimazole and antidepressants citalopram and sertraline were found in Hydropsyche. Cardio-vascular drug valsartan, antidepressant sertraline, anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac and antifungal drug clotrimazole were found in Erpobdella. Passive sampling is an integrative sampling method which allows the obtaining of time average concentration over period of few weeks. POCIS (Polar Organic Chemical Integrative Samplers) are used for sampling of polar compounds. It also can mimic bioconcentration. Based on the field experiments, the sampling rate for individual pharmaceuticals and illicit drugs was calculated. Twenty-one localities in the Czech Republic were sampled by POCIS and the water concentration of psychoactive drugs was estimated. Further research is necessary to make POCIS passive sampling a more precise tool for monitoring pharmaceutical and drug contents in aquatic environments

Short-term effects of an environmentally relevant concentration of organic UV filters on signal crayfish Pacifastacus leniusculus

Personal care products, including organic UV filters, are considered emerging contaminants, with their toxic effects being a concern in recent decades. UV filters continually enter surface waters via wastewater and human activity. Despite the presence of organic UV filters in the freshwater environment, little is known of their impact on aquatic biota. In this study, we evaluated the cardiac and locomotor responses of signal crayfish Pacifastacus leniusculus exposed to environmentally relevant concentrations of either 2-Phenylbenzimidazole-5-sulfonic acid (PBSA, 3 µg/L) or 5-Benzoyl-4-hydroxy-2-methoxybenzenesulfonic acid (BP4, 2.5 µg/L). Specimens exposed to the tested compounds for 30 min exhibited significantly greater changes in distance moved and time active than did unexposed controls. Significant differences of mean heart rate change compared to control were detected in both PBSA and BP4 experimental groups. Such behavior and physiological alterations demonstrate ecological effects of personal care products with the tested sunscreen compounds even with a short exposure. Evidence of the consequences of organic UV filters on aquatic organisms is scarce and is an important topic for future research

Response of Parasite Community Composition to Aquatic Pollution in Common Carp (<i>Cyprinus carpio</i> L.): A Semi-Experimental Study

The response of parasite communities to aquatic contamination has been shown to vary with both type of pollutant and parasite lifestyle. In this semi-experimental study, we examined uptake of pharmaceutical compounds in common carp (Cyprinus carpio L.) restocked from a control pond to a treatment pond fed with organic pollution from a sewage treatment plant and assessed changes in parasite community composition and fish biometric parameters. The parasite community of restocked fish changed over the six-month exposure period, and the composition of pharmaceutical compounds in the liver and brain was almost the same as that in fish living in the treatment pond their whole life. While fish size and weight were significantly higher in both treatment groups compared to the control, condition indices, including condition factor, hepatosomatic index, and splenosomatic index, were significantly higher in control fish. Parasite diversity and species richness decreased at the polluted site, alongside a significant increase in the abundance of a single parasite species, Gyrodactylus sprostonae. Oviparous monogeneans of the Dactylogyridae and Diplozoidae families and parasitic crustaceans responded to pollution with a significant decrease in abundance, the reduction in numbers most likely related to the sensitivity of their free-living stages to pollution

Searching for the correlations between the use of different groups of pharmaceuticals from wastewaters

Wastewater contains a wealth of information about the inhabitants of cities. Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has become an effective tool for monitoring public health by analyzing various biomarkers (e.g., chemicals and microorganisms) in wastewater. This way, the estimation of pharmaceuticals' consumption behavior and/or illicit drugs can be calculated. However, monitoring consumption alone is not the only option. If we consider wastewater as a statistical representation of the population's health, medical information can be derived. In this work, we used data from 15 different wastewater treatment plants in Slovak Republic to explore correlations between the use of typical pharmaceuticals and illicit drugs. The analysis was based on the wastewater monitoring data from four years (2016–2019), and 68 different compounds were taken into account. One of the strongest correlations found was between Antihyperlipidemics and Antihypertensives, with Pearson's correlation coefficient of 0.82. This type of analysis within the WBE represents a new potential as an additional source of information for the pharmaceutical, medical and government sectors in assessing health risk factors in the population. Such an evaluation method has even a great potential for artificial intelligence and machine learning for calculating health risk factors together with other sources of data.ISSN:0147-6513ISSN:1090-241

Cardiac and Locomotor Responses to Acute Stress in Signal Crayfish Pacifastacus leniusculus Exposed to Methamphetamine at an Environmentally Relevant Concentration

Methamphetamine (METH), a central nervous system stimulant used as a recreational drug, is frequently found in surface waters at potentially harmful concentrations. To determine effects of long-term exposure to environmentally relevant levels on nontarget organisms, we analysed cardiac and locomotor responses of signal crayfish Pacifastacus leniusculus to acute stress during a 21-day exposure to METH at 1 &mu;g L&minus;1 followed by 14 days depuration. Heart rate and locomotion were recorded over a period of 30 min before and 30 min after exposure to haemolymph of an injured conspecific four times during METH exposure and four times during the depuration phase. Methamphetamine-exposed crayfish showed a weaker cardiac response to stress than was observed in controls during both exposure and depuration phases. Similarly, methamphetamine-exposed crayfish, during METH exposure, showed lower locomotor reaction poststressor application in contrast to controls. Results indicate biological alterations in crayfish exposed to METH at low concentration level, potentially resulting in a shift in interactions among organisms in natural environment

Oxazepam Alters the Behavior of Crayfish at Diluted Concentrations, Venlafaxine Does Not

Pharmaceutically active compounds are only partially removed from wastewaters and hence may be major contaminants of freshwaters. Direct and indirect effects on aquatic organisms are reported at dilute concentrations. This study was focused on the possible effects of environmentally relevant concentrations (~1 &#181;g L&#8722;1) of two psychoactive compounds on the behavior of freshwater crayfish. Experimental animals exposed to venlafaxine did not show any behavioral alteration. Crayfish exposed to the benzodiazepine oxazepam exhibited a significant alteration in the distance moved and activity, and the effects were different when individuals were ready for reproduction. Results suggested that even the low concentration of selected psychoactive pharmaceuticals could alter the behavioral patterns of crayfish, as reported for other pharmaceuticals. These results provide new information about the possible adverse effects of pharmaceuticals at dilute concentrations. From previous knowledge and our results, it is obvious that different compounds have different effects and the effects are even specific for different taxa. Detailed studies are therefore needed to assess the possible ecological consequences of particular substances, as well as for their mixtures

Effect of psychoactive substances on cardiac and locomotory activity of juvenile marbled crayfish Procambarus virginalis

Pharmaceutically active compounds are common and increasing in the aquatic environment. Evidence suggests they have adverse effects on non-target organisms, and they are classified as emerging pollutants for a variety of aquatic organisms. To determine the effects of environmentally relevant levels of psychoactive compounds on non-target organisms, we analyzed cardiac and locomotory activity in early developmental stages of marbled crayfish Procambarus virginalis. Responses to sertraline, methamphetamine, and a mixture of citalopram, oxazepam, sertraline, tramadol, venlafaxine, and methamphetamine at a concentration of 1 µg L-1 of each compound were assessed. On day four of exposure, cardiac activity was recorded for 5 min, and on day eight, locomotory activity was recorded for 15 min. There was a significant increase (p  0.05) in exposed and control animals. These findings revealed that low concentrations of chemicals and their mixtures can modify the physiological state of aquatic animals without outward manifestations (activity, distance moved, and velocity). Aquatic animals can be impacted earlier than is visible, but effects can potentially lead to substantial changes in populations and in ecosystem processes. Additional research to investigate chemical combinations, exposure systems, and organism physiological and molecular responses may provide evidence of broad impact of environmental pharmaceuticals

Toxicity assessment of binary mixtures of BP3 with 4-MBC (UV-filters), and BP3 with DEET (insect repellent) using the aquatic midge Chironomus riparius

Personal care products have various organic ultraviolet filters (UV filters) in their composition to increase protection against ultraviolet radiation. Some of these products also contain insect repellents in their formulations. Consequently, these compounds reach freshwater ecosystems, exposing aquatic organisms to a cocktail of anthropogenic contaminants. In this study, the joint effects of two most frequently detected UV filters (Benzophenone - 3 (BP3) and Enzacamene (4-MBC)) and joint effects of BP3 combined with an insect repellent (N, N diethyl-3-methylbenzamide - DEET) were evaluated using life-history traits of the aquatic midge Chironomus riparius such as emergence rate, time to emergence and imagoes body weight. The results showed synergistic effects between BP3 and 4-MBC for C. riparius emergence rate. Regarding the effects of BP3 and DEET mixture, our analysis suggests synergism in the case of males but antagonism in the case of females' time to emergence. Our results imply that the effects of UV filters present in sediments within chemical mixtures are complex and that the evaluation of effects using different life-history traits can yield different patterns of responses. This study demonstrates the importance of assessing the combined effects of pollutants used/found concomitantly in aquatic systems for a more accurate risk assessment, as individual chemical testing can underestimate the toxicity of organic UV filters.publishe

Screening of benzodiazepines in thirty European rivers

Pharmaceuticals as environmental contaminants have received a lot of interest over the past decade but, for several pharmaceuticals, relatively little is known about their occurrence in European surface waters. Benzodiazepines, a class of pharmaceuticals with anxiolytic properties, have received interest due to their behavioral modifying effect on exposed biota. In this study, our results show the presence of one or more benzodiazepine(s) in 86% of the analyzed surface water samples (n ¼ 138) from 30 rivers, representing seven larger European catchments. Of the 13 benzodiazepines included in the study, we detected 9, which together showed median and mean concentrations (of the results above limit of quantification) of 5.4 and 9.6 ng L1, respectively. Four benzodiazepines (oxazepam, temazepam, clobazam, and bromazepam) were the most commonly detected. In particular, oxazepam had the highest frequency of detection (85%) and a maximum concentration of 61 ng L1. Temazepam and clobazam were found in 26% (maximum concentration of 39 ng L1) and 14% (maximum concentration of 11 ng L1) of the samples analyzed, respectively. Finally, bromazepam was found only in Germany and in 16 out of total 138 samples (12%), with a maximum concentration of 320 ng L1. This study clearly shows that benzodiazepines are common micro-contaminants of the largest European river systems at ng L1 levels. Although these concentrations are more than a magnitude lower than those reported to have effective effects on exposed biota, environmental effects cannot be excluded considering the possibility of additive and sub-lethal effects.JRC.D.2-Water and Marine Resource

Biochar – An efficient sorption material for the removal of pharmaceutically active compounds, DNA and RNA fragments from wastewater

Wastewaters are considered a remarkable source of micropollutants capable of influencing the environment both directly and indirectly. Here we tested porous ecological carbon (Biochar), an effective sorbent material for removing pharmaceuticals, drugs, and their metabolites found in wastewaters. The tested Biochar type was first characterised and used for adsorption experiments of selected micropollutants from a municipal WWTP (wastewater treatment plant) effluent sample. The sorption efficiency was studied on selected pharmaceuticals due to their common presence in aquatic ecosystems. The results show that the studied Biochar type removed the pharmaceuticals with high efficiency (above 90%), so this material can potentially be applied in wastewater treatment. We achieved greater than 99% efficiency in total RNA removal from wastewater. Wastewater might contain infectious RNA fragments of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. However, Biochar can be used as a sorbent in wastewater treatment to remove antibiotic resistance genes. We have also observed a total DNA removal ability of Biochar. On the other hand, the total number and antibiotic-resistant coliform bacteria and enterococci were not changed after Biochar wastewater treatment.Web of Science94art. no. 10574