Search

The Araguari River is one of the most important water body in the Brazilian state of Amapá. However, the quality of its waters has been deteriorating and, recently, high concentrations of metals were found in water samples collected from its lower section. Overall, we aimed to evaluate land use and cover around three sampling sites located in the Araguari River lower section and its contribution to water pollution by metals; correlate land use pattern with detected metal concentrations; assess acute toxicity using the Daphnia similis test and genotoxicity using the Danio rerio bioassay of water samples from the three sampling sites; and investigate the risks arising from metals present in waters to aquatic biota. Riparian forest around all sampling sites is fragmented owing to the expansion of pasture areas, which showed a significant positive correlation (p 0.05) with the concentrations of Hg and Cu in water samples. Water samples from sampling sites 2 and 3 presented acute toxicity for D. similis, and the D. rerio bioassay confirmed the presence of genotoxic pollutants in the waters from all sampling sites. Our preliminary risk assessment showed that individual concentrations and the mixture of metals posed a high risk to aquatic biota. Taken together, our results demonstrate that the conversion of native forest to pastureland contributes to water contamination by metals, which contributes to the risks to aquatic biota.

The prioritization of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for monitoring programmes and/or environmental risk assessment (ERA) purposes is based on several criteria, including environmental occurrence data. However, data on API occurrence in Brazilian surface freshwaters are still scarce. The Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS) provides several medicines free-of-charge, including medications that have bezafibrate, fluoxetine and levothyroxine as the API. Thus, our objective was to investigate the occurrence of bezafibrate, fluoxetine and levothyroxine in samples collected at sampling sites included in the surface freshwater monitoring program of the São Paulo State Environmental Agency (CETESB); caffeine was also included in the analysis because it is commonly used as an anthropogenic marker of aquatic environment contamination. Monitoring results showed that levothyroxine was not found in any of the analysed samples. Caffeine was ubiquitous in the analysed samples, thus indicating anthropic contamination in the studied water bodies. Caffeine and bezafibrate presented risk quotient (RQ) 1 for all the sampling sites and periods evaluated in this study. For fluoxetine, RQs 1 were found in all water samples in which this API was found, indicating a potential risk for freshwater pelagic biota. Thus, fluoxetine should be regulated in São Paulo State in order to protect the aquatic biota. Additional occurrence studies in other Brazilian states are still needed to evaluate if fluoxetine is a nationwide pollutant.

The use of non-plant and plant-derived anesthetics in aquaculture activities is a frequent and necessary practice to maintain fish welfare. Currently anesthetics authorized for use in aquaculture activities are limited, and the use of unauthorized products is common. However, to obtain authorization for use in aquaculture and ensure their safety, anesthetics should be evaluated for their genotoxic potential. Our objective was to evaluate the genotoxicity of three not approved anesthetics commonly used in aquaculture using Astyanax lacustris and Oreochromis niloticus. Both fish species were exposed to six treatments: two with commercial anesthetics (benzocaine and eugenol), one with Lippia alba essential oil (EO), and three controls - negative (without treatment), vehicle (ethanol PA), and positive (cyclophosphamide). Fishes were exposed to all treatments in a water bath for 10 min and were transferred to individual aquariums without anesthetics or controls. Venipuncture of the caudal vein was performed 72 h after the exposure to the anesthetics. Nuclear abnormalities and the micronucleus were analyzed in blood smears, and DNA damage was assessed using comet assay. No genotoxicity effects were verified for fishes exposed to L. alba EO. Eugenol presented genotoxicity to both species. The comet assay showed increased DNA damage in both species induced by benzocaine and eugenol. Thus, L. alba EO was proven to be the safest anesthetic resulting in no genotoxicity and, therefore, may be an interesting alternative to commercial anesthetics used in aquaculture. However, a complete toxicological evaluation is necessary to ensure the safety of its use as an anesthetic.

Background Over 2,000 people a year in the United Kingdom need a bone marrow or blood stem cell transplant. It is important to accurately quantify the hematopoietic stem cells to predict whether the transplant will be successful in replenishing the immune system. However, they are present at low frequency, which complicates accurate quantification. The current gold standard method is single-platform flow cytometry using internal reference counting beads to determine the concentration of CD34 cells. However, volumetric flow cytometers have the ability to measure the acquisition volume, which removes the need for reference beads for calculation of cell concentrations. Method In this study, we compared both methods for calculating CD34 cell concentrations in volumetric cytometers, using either the volume reading or the number of reference beads for calculation. In addition, the uncertainty of measurement for each method was estimated. Results The results show that both methods have similar uncertainties of measurement. Regression analysis showed low to no statistical difference in CD34 cell concentrations obtained with each method. Conclusions Overall, this study suggests that the volumetric method is a valid approach but that the adoption of this technology may be hindered without some form of external calibration of volume readings to increase confidence in the measurement. © 2019 The Authors. Cytometry Part B: Clinical Cytometry published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of International Clinical Cytometry Society.

Ayahuasca is a beverage used in religious rituals of indigenous and nonindigenous groups, and its therapeutic potential has been investigated. Ayahuasca is obtained by decoction of the Banisteriopsis caapi that contains β-carbolines (harmine, harmaline, and tetrahydroharmine) plus Psychotria viridis that contains N,N-dimethyltryptamine. Although plants used in folk medicine are recognized as safe, many of them have genotoxic potential. The Salmonella/microsome assay is usually the first line of the mutagenicity evaluation of products intended for therapeutic use. Our objective was to evaluate the mutagenicity of ayahuasca beverage and their constituents using the Salmonella/microsome assay with TA98 and TA100. We analyzed two ayahuasca samples, and also beverage samples prepared each individual plant P. viridis and B. caapi. Harmine and harmaline were also tested. All beverage samples were chemically characterized and both ayahuasca samples could be considered representative of the beverages consumed in religious rituals. Both ayahuasca samples were mutagenic for TA98 and TA100 with and without S9, with similar potencies. The beverage obtained from P. viridis was not mutagenic, and beverage obtained from B. caapi was mutagenic for TA98 with and without S9. Harmine was nonmutagenic and harmaline was mutagenic only for TA98 without S9. Harmaline fully explain the mutagenicity observed with TA98 without S9 of both ayahuasca samples and the B. caapi beverage samples. We conclude that the ayahuasca samples are mutagenic and this effect is partially explained by harmaline, one of the β-carbolines present in the beverage. Other mutagenic compounds seem to be present and need to be further investigated. Environ. Mol. Mutagen. 60:269-276, 2019. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Color Index (C.I.) Disperse Red 1 (DR1) is a widely used textile azo dye found in rivers. As it may not be completely removed by conventional treatments, humans can be exposed through drinking water. Studies have supported in vitro toxicity and mutagenicity of commercial DR1. This study aimed to investigate the mutagenic and toxicogenomic effects of commercial DR1 in multiple tissues/organs of Swiss male mice. For that, animals were orally exposed to the dye (by gavage), at single doses of 0.0005, 0.005, 0.5, 50, or 500 mg/kg bw. The two lowest doses were equivalent to the ones found in two Brazilian rivers receiving influx of textile discharges. Cytotoxicity, micronucleated cell frequencies (for all doses tested), primary DNA damage (comet assay), and gene expression profiling of (0.0005 and 0.005 mg/kg of bw) were investigated 24 hr after animal exposure to commercial DR1. Data showed increased frequencies of micronucleated polychromatic erythrocytes in bone marrow cells after treatment with 0.5 and 50 mg/kg bw. At 0.005 mg/kg bw, commercial DR1 induced an increase of primary DNA damage in liver, but not in kidney cells. Additionally, upregulation of genes involved in the inflammatory process (IL1B) (0.0005 and 0.005 mg/kg bw) and cell-cycle control (CDKN1A) in liver cells, and apoptosis (BCL2 and BAX) in leukocytes (0.005 mg/kg bw) were also detected. In conclusion, the commercial DR1 was genotoxic (chromosome aberrations and primary DNA damage) and modulated gene expression in mice, and such effects were dependent on the doses and tissues analyzed. Environ. Mol. Mutagen. 59:822-828, 2018. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Although tons of disperse dyes are used worldwile, little information on their ecotoxicity is available. While in silico models can be used to predict their ecotoxicity, experimental results from Daphnia can show significantly higher toxicity than predicted. Thus the objective of this work was to extend the knowledge base in this area by evaluating the ecotoxicity of three widely used disperse dyes and comparing the results to predicted values. Bearing in mind that generating ecotoxicity data on azo disperse dyes is complicated because they are not readily found as homogeneous compounds, we employed chromatographic methods to purify three commercially dyes C.I. Disperse Violet 93, Blue 291, and Blue 373 already found in the aquatic environment. No acute toxicity was observed for Daphnia similis. These results seems to be in general agreement when compared with ECOSAR predicted values. We hypothesize that differences in Kow values could explain the variations in results.

No uniform regulation for risk assessment of pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCP) mixtures is currently available. Hence, a large diversity of strategies can be used for studying cocktail effects of PPCP, which makes difficult the task of incorporating this challenging issue into regulatory frameworks. This review provides an updated state of knowledge on the ecotoxicity of PPCP mixtures, including 194 assessments of the toxicity of mixtures from 65 articles published during 2000–2017. The misunderstandings, deficiencies and data gaps identified from those studies were critically discussed based on the models/tools used to predict/assess the joint effects and the interpretation and presentation of the effect profiles, the experimental designs used, the qualitative and quantitative composition of the PPCP mixtures and the type of bioassays performed regarding test duration, endpoints and levels of biological organization. Possible approaches pointed out in the literature to deal with the identified critical issues were also discussed. Overall, we have identified that further advances in this field of research still lack robust and consistent studies regarding the experimental design and the approaches and terminologies used to calculate, interpret and report the joint effects.

In order to develop a long-term anesthesia for flighty antelope species in field situations, two different protocols for induction and maintenance with an intravenous infusion were evaluated in wild-caught impala ( Aepyceros melampus ). Ten adult female impala were induced with two induction protocols: one consisted of 0.2 mg/kg medetomidine, 4 mg/kg ketamine, and 0.15 mg/kg butorphanol (MKB) and one consisted of 0.375 mg/kg etorphine, 0.2 mg/kg medetomidine, and 0.2 mg/kg midazolam (EMM). In both treatments, anesthesia was maintained with a continuous intravenous infusion (CII) at an initial dose rate of 1.2 μg/kg per hr medetomidine, 2.4 mg/kg per hr ketaminen and 36 μg/kg per hr midazolam. Partial reversal was achieved with naltrexone (2 : 1 mg butorphanol; 20 : 1 mg etorphine) and atipamezole (5 : 1 mg medetomidine). Evaluation of anesthesia included respiratory rate, heart rate, rectal temperature, arterial blood pressure, oxygen saturation, end tidal carbon dioxide tension, and tidal volume at 5-min intervals, palpebral reflex and response to painful stimuli at 15-min intervals, and arterial blood gases at 30-min intervals. Plasma cortisol concentration was determined after induction and before reversal. Duration and quality of induction and recovery were evaluated. EMM caused a faster induction of 9.5 ± 2.9 min compared to 11.0 ± 6.4 min in MKB. Recovery was also quicker in EMM (EMM: 6.3 ± 5.4 min; MKB: 9.8 ± 6.0 min). However, EMM also produced more cardiopulmonary side effects, including hypoxemia and hypercapnia, and calculated oxygenation indices (PaCO

The pharmaceuticals bisoprolol (BIS), sotalol (SOT), and ranitidine (RAN) are among the most consumed pharmaceuticals worldwide and are frequently detected in different aquatic ecosystems. However, very few ecotoxicity data are available in the literature for them. To help fill these data gaps, toxicity tests with the algae Raphidocelis subcapitata, the macrophyte Lemna minor, the cnidarian Hydra attenuata, the crustacean Daphnia similis, and the fish Danio rerio were performed for assessing the ecotoxicity of these pharmaceuticals. Standard, as well as non-standard endpoint, was evaluated, including the locomotor behavior of D. rerio larvae. Results obtained for SOT and RAN showed that acute adverse effects are not expected to occur on aquatic organisms at the concentrations at which these pharmaceuticals are usually found in fresh surface waters. On the other hand, BIS was classified as hazardous to the environment in the acute III category. Locomotor behavior of D. rerio larvae was not affected by BIS and RAN. A disturbance on the total swimming distance at the dark cycle was observed only for larvae exposed to the highest test concentration of 500 mg L−1 of SOT. D. similis reproduction was affected by BIS with an EC10 of 3.6 (0.1–34.0) mg L−1. A risk quotient (RQ) of 0.04 was calculated for BIS in fresh surface water, considering a worst-case scenario. To the best of our knowledge, this study presents the first chronic toxicity data with BIS on non-target organisms.