Ecotoxicological potential of antibiotic pollution–industrial wastewater: bioavailability, biomarkers, and occurrence in Mytilus galloprovincialis

Abstract

Environmental pollution by pharmaceutical residues has become a major problem in many countries worldwide. However, little is known about the concentrations of pharmaceuticals in water sources in Tunisia. Residues in the natural environment have been of increasing concern due to their impact on bacteria resistance development and toxicity to natural communities and ultimately to public health. In this work, we collected the wastewater sample from a pharmaceutical industry, which specializes in the antibiotics manufacture, during the years 2014-2015. Generally, this effluent is discharged into the marine environment and causes environmental problems. The Mediterranean mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis was commonly used as a model organism for its peculiar morphofunctional properties which also make it an excellent marine environmental biomonitoring species. The histological sections of mussel, which are exposed at different dilutions of pharmaceutical wastewater (PW), indicate a large pathological power revealed on the gills. On the other hand, genotoxicity of the studied effluent was evaluated using comet assay for quantification of DNA fragmentation in gill cells. Results show that PW exhibited a statistically significant (p < 0.001) genotoxic effect in a dose-dependent manner. However, the toxic effects of PW decreased significantly after its treatment with Bacillus atrophaeus. Toxicities can be imputed to the presence of antibiotics. In fact, chemical analysis of the gills of mussel M. galloprovincialis using ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) showed the presence of some antibiotic residues. These concentrations decrease to half in mussels treated with PW biodegraded by B. atrophaeus.

The comet assay in animal models: From bugs to whales – (Part 1 Invertebrates)

“…Studies were done on several cell types; from embryonic cells and spermatozoa to adult cells such as haemocytes, gill cells and digestive gland cells. Among many marine species, most of the studies were done on the blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) [81-88], Mediterranean mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis) [89][90][91][92][93][94][95][96][97][98][99][100] and bay mussel (Mytilus trossulus) [101,102] although there are studies done on several other mussels such as the Asian green mussel (Perna viridis) [103][104][105], New Zealand greenlipped mussel (Perna canaliculus) [106], brown mussel (Perna perna) [107,108] as well as the hydrothermal vent mussel (Bathymodiolus azoricus) [109]. The comet assay was also done on several other species of oysters, scallops, shells and clams, namely the Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas) [110][111][112][113][114], eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) [115,116], marine rock oyster (Saccostrea cucullata) [117,118], Farrer's scallop (Chlamys farreri) [119,120], grooved carpet shell (Ruditapes decussatus) [99,121,122], peppery furrow shell (Scrobicularia plana) [123][124][125], pullet carpet shell (Venerupis pullastra) [94], bean clam (Donax faba)…”

Industrialization as a source of heavy metals and antibiotics which can enhance the antibiotic resistance in wastewater, sewage sludge and river water

“…Industrial development is the leading cause of environmental pollution with various substances, including heavy metals (HMs), antibiotics and pesticides [ 1 , 2 ]. Highly urbanized and industrialized regions are characterized by higher levels of industrial production and higher population density than regions with extensive forest cover where tourism and recreation are the predominant income-generating activities [ 3 , 4 ].…”

An Overview of Antibiotics as Emerging Contaminants: Occurrence in Bivalves as Biomonitoring Organisms

“…Given the high use of antibiotics, several monitoring programs have been developed using aquatic biomonitoring organisms. Among them, bivalves have been considered as good bio-indicators of environmental pollution and used in various environmental monitoring programs in coastal waters [7][8][9][10]. Most pharmaceuticals are of polar nature, this can render them directly available to bivalves because of their high bioaccumulation capacities [11].…”

“…Most of them, especially mussels, clams and oysters, have been an important seafood for humans for thousands of years [14] and are still highly popular. They can populate environments of fresh, brackish or salt water, even if only those coming from lagoons and the sea are edible [8]. The majority of them are sedentary species (e.g., mussels and oysters) and spend their lives attached to rocks, wood and other solid objects, whereas others burrow in sand or mud (e.g., clams) or live on the water bottom and swim (e.g., scallops) [6].…”