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Medicine designed to combat diseases of affluence affects the early development of fish. How do plastic microparticles contribute?

The Science of The Total Environment 2023 5 citations ? Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count. Score: 45 ? 0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.

Denisa Medková, Aneta Hollerová, Nikola Hodkovicová, Aneta Hollerová, Nikola Hodkovicová, Yiğit Taştan, Jana Blahová, Aneta Hollerová, Nikola Hodkovicová, Nikola Hodkovicová, Veronika Doubková, Aneta Hollerová, Aneta Hollerová, Yiğit Taştan, Jana Blahová, Veronika Doubková, Yiğit Taştan, Zdeňka Svobodová Jana Blahová, Jana Blahová, Jana Blahová, Zdeňka Svobodová Zdeňka Svobodová Jana Blahová, Petr Maršálek, Jan Mareš, Martin Faldyna, Martin Faldyna, Martin Faldyna, Pavla Lakdawala, Pavla Lakdawala, Jan Mareš, Jana Blahová, Petr Maršálek, Denisa Medková, Zdeňka Svobodová Nikola Hodkovicová, Veronika Doubková, František Tichý, Martin Faldyna, František Tichý, Zdeňka Svobodová Veronika Doubková, František Tichý, František Tichý, Renáta Hesová, Renáta Hesová, Jan Mareš, Martin Faldyna, František Tichý, František Tichý, Martin Faldyna, Denisa Medková, Yiğit Taştan, Jan Mareš, Jan Kotouček, Zdeňka Svobodová Zdeňka Svobodová Pavla Lakdawala, Pavla Lakdawala, Zdeňka Svobodová

Summary

Researchers studied whether microplastic particles enhance the toxicity of three pharmaceuticals (metoprolol, enalapril, and another drug of affluence) to early fish development, examining combined effects on embryo and larval zebrafish. The results revealed that microplastics can modify the toxic effects of pharmaceuticals on fish, with implications for cumulative risk assessment in aquatic environments.

Polymers

Body Systems

Cardiovascular Endocrine Immune Reproductive

Models

Fish other Zebrafish

The incidence of diseases of affluence, such as diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular diseases, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol has been reported to rise. Consequently, the concentrations of residues of drugs designed to treat these diseases have been rising in water bodies. Moreover, the toxicity of these pharmaceuticals towards fish and other non-target organisms can be even enhanced by microplastic particles that are reportedly present in surface water. Therefore, the aim of this study was to describe the effects of three highly prescribed drugs, in particular metoprolol, enalapril, and metformin on fish early-life stages. Also, it was hypothesized that polystyrene microparticles will increase the toxicity of metoprolol to fish early-life stages. Embryonal acute toxicity tests on Danio rerio and Cyprinus carpio were carried out in order to describe the possible toxic effects of metoprolol, enalapril, and metformin. Also, the acute toxicity of polystyrene microparticles and the combination of metoprolol with polystyrene microparticles were tested on D. rerio embryos. Additionally, a 31-day long embryo-larval subchronic toxicity test was carried out with C. carpio in order to describe the long-term effects of low concentrations of metoprolol. The results of the study show that both metoprolol and enalapril have the potential to disrupt the early development of the heart in the embryonal stages of fish. Also, enalapril and metformin together with polystyrene microparticles seem to possibly disrupt the reproduction cycle and act as endocrine disruptors. Both pure polystyrene microparticles and the combination of them with metoprolol affect inflammatory processes in organisms. Additionally, metformin alters several metabolism pathways in fish early-life stages. The results of the study bring new evidence that even low, environmentally-relevant concentrations of pharmaceuticals have the potential to disrupt the early development of fish, particularly on a molecular level.

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