Effects of environmental realistic concentrations of carbamazepine in a freshwater model ecosystem

Sandrine Joachim (1, 2) , Rémy Beaudouin (1) , Emmanuelle Vulliet , Anne Bado-Nilles (1, 2) , Gaëlle Daniele , Patrick Baudoin (1, 2) , Olivier Palluel (1, 2) , Cyril Turies (1) , Alice James (1) , Sandrine Andres (1) , Alexandre R.R. Pery , Jean-Marc Porcher (1, 2)

1 INERIS - Institut National de l'Environnement Industriel et des Risques
2 SEBIO - Stress Environnementaux et BIOsurveillance des milieux aquatiques

Pharmaceuticals are widely used in human and veterinary health care products. Their occurrence in the aquatic environment is nowadays a well established issue and has become a matter of both scientific and public concern. As these substances are biologically active and might be persistent, toxic effects on organisms are suspected at low concentrations and have been demonstrated mainly for steroidal hormones. Carbamazepine is a common drug used for the treatment of epilepsy, which is frequently found in European freshwater ecosystems. As chronic ecotoxicity data as well as information on the current distribution patterns in environmental compartments are scarce, an integrated hazard assessment strategy was proposed based on low tier (standardized tests, biomarkers studies) and high tier studies (lotic mesocosms). The results of the lotic mesocosm experiment are described in this communication. The study was carried out, in twelve 20 meter long channels, under continuous, environmentally realistic concentrations of carbamazepine (0.05, 0.5 and 5 µg L-1 in triplicats). The mesocosms were set up with artificial sediments, macrophytes, periphyton, benthic and pelagic invertebrates, decomposers and one fish species (Gasterosteus aculeatus). After three months of ecosystem stabilization, treatment lasted 6 months. Periphyton biomass, macrophyte biovolume, zooplankton and invertebrate abundance and diversity, fish individual physiological responses along with population dynamics were the measured biological endpoints. Carbamazepine concentration in water was monitored each month by chemical analysis. In order to account for the observed effects, degradation products and major metabolites were also measured in the sediment, watercress and fish. Major effects on water quality parameters, macrophytes and fish were observed at the highest tested concentration. Moreover, a quite important physiological destabilization of fish was shown at 0.5 and 5 µg L-1.All these impacts could be caused by both the parent substance and the degradation products and metabolites. Retroactive effects seem to drive and structure the responses of the other populations and communities. A conceptual model presenting the overall response at the highest tested concentration is proposed.

Domaines: Ecotoxicologie; Toxicologie

Sandrine Joachim, Rémy Beaudouin, Emmanuelle Vulliet, Anne Bado-Nilles, Gaëlle Daniele, et al.. Effects of environmental realistic concentrations of carbamazepine in a freshwater model ecosystem. 26. SETAC Europe annual meeting, May 2016, Nantes, France. ⟨ineris-01854189⟩