Development of a method for assessing the accumulation and metabolization of antidepressant drugs in zebrafish (Danio rerio) eleutheroembryos

Antidepressant drugs are widely used for the treatment of common mental or other psychiatric disorders such as depression, which affect about 121 million people worldwide. This widespread use has contributed to the input of these pharmaceuticals and their metabolites into the environment. The aim of this work was to develop an analytical method to quantify the most widely used antidepressant drugs, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI), and their main metabolites in the environment. For this, a new and reliable miniaturized extraction method based on dispersive SPE cleanup procedure for extraction of SSRI followed by derivatization with n-heptafluorobutyrylimidazole, and detection by GC-MS was developed. The methodology, including a first-order one-compartment model, was then applied to a bioconcentration study in zebrafish (Danio rerio) eleutheroembryos. The results showed low bioaccumulation of these compounds; however, a biotransformation evidence of the parent compounds into their metabolites was observed after 6 h of exposure. These results indicate the need to integrate metabolic transformation rates to fully model and understand the bioaccumulation patterns of SSRI and their metabolites. Graphical abstract Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00216-021-03486-2.