Abstract

Psychoactive substances are used worldwide and constitute one of the common groups of pharmaceutical contaminants in surface waters. Typically, in field surveys and laboratory studies, muscle or whole - body homogenates are used to quantify pharmaceutical concentrations in biota, although uptake of pharmaceuticals may be tissue - specific. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the tissue - specific (muscle, liver, brain and blood plasma) uptake of the anxiolytic oxazepam in adult Eurasian perch (Perca fluviatilis). In laboratory experiments, perch were exposed to four different concentrations (2, 4, 12 and 20 mu g L-1) of oxazepam for 6 days, and muscle, liver, brain tissue and blood plasma were sampled to determine tissue - specific bioconcentration. We found that the tissue - specific bioconcentration was independent of oxazepam concentration. However, among tissue types, bioconcentration was significantly different, with the concentration in muscle, liver = brain, blood plasma. Hence, it is important to consider the type of tissue used to quantify pharmaceutical uptake in fish, for predictions of species - specific sensitivity and comparisons across studies. Furthermore, our results indicate a somewhat lower transportability (brain/plasma ratio 0.54) of oxazepam from blood to brain in fish compared with in mammals, which should be kept in mind when employing 'read - across' approaches.

Keywords

blood concentration; brain concentration; distribution coefficient; pharmaceutical pollution; tissue-specific bioconcentration

Published in

Environmental Chemistry
2016, Volume: 13, number: 5, pages: 849-853
Publisher: CSIRO PUBLISHING

UKÄ Subject classification

Environmental Sciences


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1071/EN16027

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/119847