Nitrofurantoin-Microbial Degradation and Interactions with Environmental Bacterial Strains.

Amanda Pacholak,Wojciech Smułek,Ewa Kaczorek,Agnieszka Zgoła-Grześkowiak

doi:10.3390/ijerph16091526

Abstract

The continuous exposure of living organisms and microorganisms to antibiotics that have increasingly been found in various environmental compartments may be perilous. One group of antibacterial agents that have an environmental impact that has been very scarcely studied is nitrofuran derivatives. Their representative is nitrofurantoin (NFT)—a synthetic, broad-spectrum antibiotic that is often overdosed. The main aims of the study were to: (a) isolate and characterize new microbial strains that are able to grow in the presence of NFT, (b) investigate the ability of isolates to decompose NFT, and (c) study the impact of NFT on microbial cell properties. As a result, five microbial species were isolated. A 24-h contact of bacteria with NFT provoked modifications in microbial cell properties. The greatest differences were observed in Sphingobacterium thalpophilum P3d, in which a decrease in both total and inner membrane permeability (from 86.7% to 48.3% and from 0.49 to 0.42 µM min−1) as well as an increase in cell surface hydrophobicity (from 28.3% to 39.7%) were observed. Nitrofurantoin removal by selected microbial cultures ranged from 50% to 90% in 28 days, depending on the bacterial strain. Although the isolates were able to decompose the pharmaceutical, its presence significantly affected the bacterial cells. Hence, the environmental impact of NFT should be investigated to a greater extent.

Highlights

Being increasingly used by millions of peoples, pharmaceuticals have become an indispensable element of contemporary societies [1,2,3]
Since studies about the environmental effects of nitrofurantoin as well as its biodegradation are limited [20,21], the main aim of this study is to investigate the ability of environmental microbial limited [20,21], the main aim of this study is to investigate the ability of environmental microbial strains to decompose nitrofurantoin and study the impact of the compound mentioned on microbial strains to decompose nitrofurantoin and study the impact of the compound mentioned on microbial cell properties
The obtained results are important, because the proper kinetics model can help predict the biodegradation capacity of microorganisms [57,58]. Both microbial consortia used contained microbial strains that were capable of using NFT as a source of carbon and energy

Summary

Introduction

Being increasingly used by millions of peoples, pharmaceuticals have become an indispensable element of contemporary societies [1,2,3]. Many of them are purchased and consumed in quantities that exceed the real demand, and recent studies have shown that these substances are entering the natural environment. There are many ways that medicines make their way into the environment (Figure 1). These include improper drugs disposal or the inappropriate management of drug manufacturing facilities. A great portion of the pharmaceuticals that are present in ecosystems comes from the drugs taken by people or animals that are excreted in an unchanged form in urine or feces [2,4,5]. Public Health 2019, 16, 1526; doi:10.3390/ijerph16091526 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph

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