Embryotoxicity of Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors—Comparative Sensitivity of Zebrafish (Danio rerio) and African Clawed Frog (Xenopus laevis) Embryos

Jana Blahova,Zdenka Svobodova,Veronika Doubkova,Caterina Faggio,Lucie Plhalova,Denisa Medkova,Vladimir Vecerek,Pavla Lakdawala

doi:10.3390/app112110015

Jana Blahova, Zdenka Svobodova + Show 6 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/app112110015

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Abstract

Over the past twenty years, the prescription of antidepressant drugs has increased all over the world. After their application, antidepressants, like other pharmaceuticals, are excreted and enter the aquatic environment. They are dispersed among surface waters mainly through waste water sources, typically at very low concentrations— from a tenth up to hundreds of ng/L. Frequently detected antidepressants include fluoxetine and citalopram—both selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. The aim of our study was to assess the embryotoxicity of fluoxetine hydrochloride and citalopram hydrochloride on the early life stages of zebrafish (Danio rerio) and the African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis). The embryos were exposed to various concentrations of the individual antidepressants and of their mixtures for 96 h. The tested levels included both environmentally relevant and higher concentrations for the evaluation of dose-dependent effects. Our study demonstrated that even environmentally relevant concentrations of these psychiatric drugs influenced zebrafish embryos, which was proven by a significant increase (p < 0.01) in the embryos’ heart rates after fluoxetine hydrochloride exposure and in their hatching rate after exposure to a combination of both antidepressants, and thus revealed a potential risk to aquatic life. Despite these results, we can conclude that the African clawed frog is more sensitive, since exposure to the highest concentrations of fluoxetine hydrochloride (10,000 μg/L) and citalopram hydrochloride (100,000 μg/L) resulted in total mortality of the frog embryos.

Highlights

Introduction published maps and institutional affilThe welfare of aquatic organisms can be significantly disturbed by exposure to various biologically active chemical compounds, even at sublethal concentrations, which mainly enter the aquatic environment due to intense anthropogenic activity [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]
The results of the cumulative mortality of the zebrafish and African clawed frog embryos are presented in Tables 1 and 2
The same mortality was observed in the experimental group exposed to the medium concentration of both antidepressants

Summary

Introduction

The welfare of aquatic organisms can be significantly disturbed by exposure to various biologically active chemical compounds, even at sublethal concentrations, which mainly enter the aquatic environment due to intense anthropogenic activity [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]. The growing concentration of pharmaceuticals entering the aquatic ecosystem, which is mainly due to insufficiently treated wastewater from hospitals, households and other facilities, has become a topical issue [11,12,13]. Among a large number of pharmaceuticals, antidepressants have received significant attention in many ecotoxicological studies [14,15,16]. It is a significant assumption that this trend will continue in the upcoming years [17,18]

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