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Methyl-triclosan and triclosan impact embryonic development of Danio rerio and Paracentrotus lividus

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Abstract

The presence of emerging pollutants in the environment is of major concern not only because of the potential negative impact in human health, but also due to the potential toxicity to non-target organisms. Within the personal and care products (PCPs), the disinfectant Triclosan (TCS) is one of the most concerning compounds. Once in the wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), a small part of TCS can be biotransformed into a more persistent by-product: methyl-triclosan (M-TCS). Although several studies have focused on the occurrence of this compound in the water systems, the information on its toxicity to aquatic organisms is very limited. Here, we used embryo bioassays with two aquatic model animals to improve risk assessment of M-TCS; zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryo bioassays run up to 144 h post fertilization (hpf) and sea urchin (Paracentrotus lividus) up to 48 hpf, following established protocols. M-TCS and TCS exhibited similar toxicity to zebrafish with a NOEC of 160 µg/L. In contrast, M-TCS induced a delay in the development of the sea urchin larvae at all tested concentrations (1–1000 µg/L), whereas NOEC of TCS for P. lividus embryos was 40 µg/L. Overall, given the reported effects of M-TCS in the close range of environmentally relevant concentrations, and considering the low degradation rate and tendency to bioaccumulation (logKow: 5.2), further studies are warrant to better characterize the risk of this TCS metabolite to aquatic organisms.

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Acknowledgements

This paper was developed under the project INNOVMAR—Innovation and Sustainability in the Management and Exploitation of Marine Resources (reference NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000035), with- in Research Line ECOSERVICES—Assessing the environmental quality, vulnerability and risks for the sustainable management of NW coast natural resources and ecosystem services, supported by North Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CIMAR/CIIMAR – Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research, University of Porto, Group of Endocrine disruptors and Emerging contaminants, Av. General Norton de Matos s/n, 4450-208, Porto, Portugal

    Sofia Macedo, Tiago Torres & Miguel M. Santos

  2. FCUP—Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, Porto, 4169-007, Portugal

    Miguel M. Santos

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  1. Sofia Macedo
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  2. Tiago Torres
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  3. Miguel M. Santos
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Correspondence to Miguel M. Santos.

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All applicable international, national, and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Macedo, S., Torres, T. & Santos, M.M. Methyl-triclosan and triclosan impact embryonic development of Danio rerio and Paracentrotus lividus . Ecotoxicology 26, 482–489 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-017-1778-3

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