Predicting the occurrence of antagonism within ternary guanidine mixture pollutants based on the concentration ratio of components

Abstract

The widespread prevalence and coexistence of diverse guanidine compounds pose substantial risks of potential toxicity interactions, synergism or antagonism, to environmental organisms. This complexity presents a formidable challenge in assessing the risks associated with various pollutants. Hence, a method that is both accurate and universally applicable for predicting toxicity interactions within mixtures is crucial, given the unimaginable diversity of potential combinations. A toxicity interaction prediction method (TIPM) developed in our past research was employed to predict the toxicity interaction, within guanidine compound mixtures. Here, antagonism were found in the mixtures of three guanidine compounds including chlorhexidine (CHL), metformin (MET), and chlorhexidine digluconate (CDE) by selecting Escherichia coli (E. coli) as the test organism. The antagonism in the mixture was probably due to the competitive binding of all three guanidine compounds to the anionic phosphates of E. coli cell membranes, which eventually lead to cell membrane rupture. Then, a good correlation between toxicity interactions (antagonisms) and components' concentration ratios (pis) within binary mixtures (CHL-MET, CHL-CDE, MET-CDE) was established. Based on the correlation, the TIPM was constructed and accurately predicted the antagonism in the CHL-MET-CDE ternary mixture, which once again proved the accuracy and applicability of the TIPM method. Therefore, TIPM can be suggested to identify or screen rapidly the toxicity interaction within ternary mixtures exerting potentially adverse effects on the environment.