Presence of pharmaceutical compounds, levels of biochemical biomarkers in seafood tissues and risk assessment for human health: Results from a case study in North-Western Spain.

This study assessed the presence of 27 pharmaceutically active compounds belonging to common therapeutic groups (cardiovascular, antiashmatic, psychoactive, diuretic, analgesic/anti-inflammatory, and antibiotic drugs) in the tissues of representative seafood species of bivalves, cephalopods, arthropods, and fish of high economic importance and consumption rates in North-Western Spain. Four pharmaceutical compounds, out of the 27 analyzed, were detected in the collected samples. The benzodiazepine citalopram was detected in the tissues of common octopus (14.1 ng g-1 dry weight) and pod razor (9.4 ng g-1 dw). The anxiolytic venlafaxine was detected in the tissues of common cockle (2.9 ng g-1 dw). The veterinary antiparasitic ronidazole was found in pod razor (2.3 ng g-1 dw) and, finally, the psychoactive compound alprazolam was also measured in common octopus (0.3 ng g-1 dw). Hazard quotients were calculated to assess the hazard posed by the consumption of the sampled seafoods. Octopus and pod razor tissues containing citalopram and alprazolam exceeded our chosen hazard limits (HQ > 0.1) for toddlers who are high consumers of seafood (HQ values between 0.18 and 0.27). A battery of biochemical biomarkers of effects (acetylcholinesterase, glutathione S-transferase; catalase, glutathione peroxidase and glutathione reductase enzymes activities and reduced/oxidized glutathione and malondialdehyde levels) was applied to samples of the study species with the...
Source: International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental health - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Tags: Int J Hyg Environ Health Source Type: research