The toxic effects of three active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) with different efficacy to Vibrio fischeri

Abstract

The environmental residues of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) are associated with environmental risks and health problems, the influence to environment have become a matter of public concern. In this paper, the individual and joint toxicities to vibrio fischeri of three APIs, including ibuprofen, azithromycin, and triclosan were investigated. The EC50 endpoint values of the above tested APIs were 36.5 × 10−5 mol L−1, 30.26 × 10−5 mol L−1, and 0.0155 × 10−5 mol L−1 respectively. It was indicated that the endpoint toxicities to vibrio fischeri for different mixtures are higher than those of the individual toxins. The joint toxicities of the multiple systems of three pharmaceuticals were evaluated by the additive index, toxicity unit, and mixed toxicity index methods. The consistent evaluation results were obtained. It was observed that antagonistic effects in binary and ternary systems were appeared different antagonistic strengths. It was deduced that different functional groups of the studied pharmaceuticals could affect the physiological and biochemical reaction processes of organisms. The obtained data of the acute toxicities of pharmaceuticals to vibrio fischeri can facilitate the evaluation of the environmental risks associated with emerging pollutants. Keywords: Ibuprofen, Azithromycin, Triclosan, Joint toxic effects