Abstract
If not properly and efficiently treated, wastes produced by the chemical industry can contaminate the environment. Using fungi able to degrade organic compounds (e.g. phenol) seems to be a prominent method to treat pharmaceutical wastewaters, in particular, the white-rot fungus. The aim of this work was to treat pharmaceutical effluent by the Pycnoporus sanguineus fungus. Three effluent samples were collected in a pharmaceutical industry. The production of enzymes such as laccase and manganese peroxidase was determined. Their production increased throughout the treatment with the P. sanguineus fungus, reaching maximum concentration of 4.48 U.mL-1 (Effluent 1), 8.16 U.mL-1 (Effluent 2), 2.8 U.mL-1 (Effluent 3) and 0.03 Abs.min-1 (Effluent 2), respectively, during 96 hours of biological treatment. Genotoxic effects of the raw and treated effluents were also investigated using the in vivo mouse bone marrow micronucleus (MN) assay. Results showed the biological treatment reduced the frequency of MN, in a dose-dependent manner, when compared to untreated sample. The decreasing of around 20% and 45% of phenolics concentration was observed throughout the treatment, confirming that laccase production can be related to the degradation of toxic compounds present in the effluent. Therefore, the biodegradation by the P. sanguineus fungus seems a promising method for the mineralization of recalcitrant compounds present in pharmaceutical effluents.
Highlights
INTRODUCTIONPharmaceutical wastewaters comprise a group that, with regard to the environmental issues, has been given little attention for many years (Hirsch et al, 1999; Roberts and Thomas, 2006)
Pharmaceutical wastewaters comprise a group that, with regard to the environmental issues, has been given little attention for many years (Hirsch et al, 1999; Roberts and Thomas, 2006).The impact of discharging pharmaceutical effluent without treatment into rivers (Chen, Wang and Ding, 2008), lakes (Boyd et al, 2004), aquifers (Godfrey, Woessner and Benotti, 2007) is quite strong, affecting both aquatic and human lives.Phenol is one of the main toxic compounds found in pharmaceutical wastewaters and other compounds like that are called phenolics
The higher laccase production was determined in 96 hours of treatment (4.48 U.mL-1, 8.16 U.mL-1 and 2.8 U.mL-1) for the effluent samples 1, 2 and 3 respectively
Summary
Pharmaceutical wastewaters comprise a group that, with regard to the environmental issues, has been given little attention for many years (Hirsch et al, 1999; Roberts and Thomas, 2006). The white-rot fungus has got an enzymatic system able to supporting high concentrations of toxic contaminants (Barr and Aust, 1994) These fungus have the ability of degrading recalcitrant organic pollutants such as polyaromatic hydrocarbons, chlorophenols, and polychlorinated biphenyls (Barr and Aust, 1994). The Pycnoporus sanguineus, a white-rot fungus and comprising the Basidiomycota, was recognised by biodegrading some textile dyes (Pointing and Vrijmoed, 2000, Trovaslet et al, 2007) and lignosulphonates (Eugenio et al, 2008) This fungus could mineralize both Lignin (recalcitrant compound present in the lignocellulosic wood matrix) and many resistant pollutants (Durán and Esposito, 2000). Genetic toxicology tests are assays designed to detect direct or indirect genetic damage induced by compounds
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