Photodegradation of Atorvastatin under Light Conditions Relevant to Natural Waters and Photoproducts Toxicity Assessment

Šárka Klementová,Pavla Fojtíková,Pavla Petráňová

doi:10.4236/ojapps.2021.104035

Abstract

Atorvastatin, widely prescribed hypolipidemic drug, undergoes rapid, probably self-sensitised, degradation (less than 20% left after 25-minute irradiation) if irradiated by wavelengths 300 - 350 nm in aqueous solution. When ferric ions are added to the reaction mixture, the degradation follows first order kinetics with a rate constant of 0.130 min−1. Photochemical degradation may thus represent a significant way of environmental transformation of this pharmaceutical. Toxicity testing of atorvastatin and atorvastatin photoproducts performed on the water plant Lemna minor revealed that atorvastatin itself exhibited no observable toxic effect measured as leaf area growth inhibition, while the photoproducts showed a significant toxicity to the plant, which shows the extreme importance of investigating not only toxicity of drugs themselves on aquatic organisms but also effects of their transformation products.

Highlights

Pharmaceuticals for human use have recently received much attention as emerging organic micropollutants in the aquatic environment [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
[1] Lam et al [13] and Wang et al [14] studied the influence of dissolved organic matter and some inorganic ions on atorvastatin photochemical degradation, while Razavi et al [7] and Wang et al [15] investigated the effect of reactive oxygen species on the photodegradation of atorvastatin
The atorvastatin degradation in this case is slow in the first minutes of irradiation, the reaction rate significantly increasing after 10 minutes of irradiation

Summary

Introduction

Pharmaceuticals for human use have recently received much attention as emerging organic micropollutants in the aquatic environment [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]. These compounds are in most cases resistant to hydrolysis and biodegradation, and a photoinitiated degradation represents possible transformation pathways in the aquatic environment. Statins belong to the most widely prescribed drugs in developed countries and have been detected in natural waters worldwide in concentrations ranging from 10 ng/l to 1500 ng/l [9] [10] [11] [12]. Their photochemical degradation has been studied by several scientific groups. Lam & Mabury [1] Lam et al [13] and Wang et al [14] studied the influence of dissolved organic matter and some inorganic ions on atorvastatin photochemical degradation, while Razavi et al [7] and Wang et al [15] investigated the effect of reactive oxygen species on the photodegradation of atorvastatin

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Conclusion