Selective Uptake and Bioaccumulation of Antidepressants in Fish from Effluent-Impacted Niagara River

Abstract

The continuous release of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) into freshwater systems impacts the health of aquatic organisms. This study evaluates the concentrations and bioaccumulation of PPCPs and the selective uptake of antidepressants in fish from the Niagara River, which connects two of the North American Great lakes (Erie and Ontario). The Niagara River receives PPCPs from different wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) situated along the river and Lake Erie. Of the 22 targeted PPCPs, 11 were found at part-per-billion levels in WWTP effluents and at part-per-trillion levels in river water samples. The major pollutants observed were the antidepressants (citalopram, paroxetine, sertraline, venlafaxine, and bupropion, and their metabolites norfluoxetine and norsertraline) and the antihistamine diphenhydramine. These PPCPs accumulate in various fish organs, with norsertraline exhibiting the highest bioaccumulation factor (up to about 3000) in the liver of rudd (Scardinius erythrophthalmus), which is an invasive species to the Great Lakes. The antidepressants were selectively taken up by various fish species at different trophic levels, and were further metabolized once inside the organism. The highest bioaccumulation was found in the brain, followed by liver, muscle, and gonads, and can be attributed to direct exposure to WWTP effluent.

Global antimicrobial resistance: a complex and dire threat with few definite answers

“…In fact, the antidepressant fluoxetine has been shown to induce multiple AMR mechanisms in E. coli . Troublingly, antidepressants are ubiquitous in surface waters, detectable even in widely diluted large lakes at concentrations up to 1000 ng/L, levels at which they readily accumulate in fish .…”

Importance of Monitor and Control on New-Emerging Pollutants in Conventional Wastewater Treatment Plants

“…Many NEOPs are derived from the public's daily life, such as the highlighted PPCPs, then discharged and entered into the WWTPs directly [8]. Unfortunately, the current municipal wastewater treatment systems are not specifically designed to remove these pollutants and thus the inefficient removal (most of them are below 50%) results in the release and occurrence of organic contaminants residues in different environments such as surface water, soil, sediments and even drinking water [2] [3] [5].…”

“…As the social and industrial development, more and more new-emerging organic pollutants (NEOPs), such as the pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), were detected in natural environments [1], and have been enormously documented to be devastating to ecological biodiversity and public health [2] [3] [4] [5]. But the intentions and measures taken to deal with the environmental health problem are weak.…”

“…However, high concen- trations of antibiotics were still extensively detected in aquatic environment, even in drinking water in China in 2016 [7]. The newly found antidepressants in Great Lakes and psychoactive pharmaceuticals in Czech Republic with evident toxicity to aquatic organisms are also typical examples of such events [5] [8].…”

High performance liquid chromatography associated with resonance Rayleigh scattering for synchronous determination of three antihistamines and mechanism study

“…They are also used in the treatment of asthma, high fever and rhinitis . However, environmental hazards and risks of many antihistamines to non‐target species are increasingly concerning . Antihistamines represent a class of pharmaceuticals previously identified to present elevated potential risk to aquatic life .…”