Biotesting Methods for the Detection of Drugs in the Aquatic Environment

Abstract

The article presents experimental data on the use of the biotesting method for the toxicological evaluation of tap water containing the antibiotic amoxicillin solution and the hormone 17-estradiol solution. Different test organisms differ in their sensitivity to toxicants. Therefore, a series of biotests using different test organisms from different systematic groups: daphnia (Daphnia magna Straus), infusoria (Paramecium caudatum), and algae (Chlorella vulgaris Beijer) were used to increase the accuracy of toxicity assessment of solutions. It was found that of the selected test cultures infusoria were the most sensitive to the solution with antibiotic and hormone. The effect of amoxicillin in the dose range from 0.000078 mg/L to 0.000000078 mg/L contributed to the toxic effect of the test cultures in the following sequence in descending order: infusoria daphnia = chlorella. In a toxicity study of water containing the hormone 17-estradiol in the dose range from 0.00001mg/L to 0.00000001 mg/L, the sensitivity of the test objects developed in the following chronology: infusoria chlorella. Daphnia (Daphnia magna Straus) were not at all susceptible to this class of drugs. Therefore, the proposed biotesting methods for the detection of drugs in the aquatic environment are a promising direction in assessing the toxicity of pharmpollutants in wastewater.