Abstract
The influence of pharmaceutical residues and heavy metals on living organisms has received global attention. The present study assessed the interactive effect of antibiotic residues and heavy metals in soil, as contaminated food with cadmium (Cd) and oxytetracycline (OTC) on the isopod Porcellio leavis. It was fed on fresh plant leaves contaminated with different concentrations of cadmium, Cd+OTC1000 ppm, Cd+OTC2000 ppm and Cd+OTC3000 ppm for 4 weeks. The changes in the feeding patterns, protein, lipid peroxidation (LPO), catalase activity (CAT), and total free amino acids (TFAA) were recorded. There were significant differences in the obtained results where Cd reduced the egestion ratio (ER) however, OTC enhanced this ratio. Biochemical analysis illustrated that combination between OTC and Cd inhibits the toxic effects of Cd at low concentration (1000 ppm), while at high concentration (3000 ppm) raise the toxicity. Detailed studies are required for further understanding of the interaction between OTC and heavy metals, and also its impact on soil animals and for improving soil risk evaluation.
Highlights
Pharmaceutical residues are chemical compounds, reaches water ways and soil, influencing human health and non-target animals causing severe problems (Volcão et al, 2020)
Experimental design The collected isopods were maintained in plastic containers for one week in the laboratory; they were fed on mango leaves
The present study indicated that neither single nor combined OTC with heavy metal (Cd) caused mortality for isopods during the experiments
Summary
Pharmaceutical residues are chemical compounds, reaches water ways and soil, influencing human health and non-target animals causing severe problems (Volcão et al, 2020). Some plants can transfer these chemicals from the soil to both human and animals through food chains (Tiwari et al, 2017; Nasr et al, 2020). Veterinary drugs can be introduced by various means to the ecosystem (Bártíková et al, 2016), such as soil fertilization using manure of animals. Oxytetracycline (OTC) is a major one of the tetracycline, extensively used worldwide in veterinary medicines and feed additives. It cannot be completely absorbed in their intestine and up to 75% of OTC administered to animals will enter the environment by excretion and pollute the soil (Bao et al, 2013; Leston et al, 2014; Li et al, 2015). With the growth of intensive animal and poultry breeding programs and the large use of manure fertilizers, increasing the ecotoxicological effects of antibiotics
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