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Acute Effects of Tetracycline Exposure in the Freshwater Fish Gambusia holbrooki: Antioxidant Effects, Neurotoxicity and Histological Alterations

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Abstract

A large body of evidence was compiled in the recent decades showing a noteworthy increase in the detection of pharmaceutical drugs in aquatic ecosystems. Due to its ubiquitous presence, chemical nature, and practical purpose, this type of contaminant can exert toxic effects in nontarget organisms. Exposure to pharmaceutical drugs can result in adaptive alterations, such as changes in tissues, or in key homeostatic mechanisms, such as antioxidant mechanisms, biochemical/physiological pathways, and cellular damage. These alterations can be monitored to determine the impact of these compounds on exposed aquatic organisms. Among pharmaceutical drugs in the environment, antibiotics are particularly important because they include a variety of substances widely used in medical and veterinary practice, livestock production, and aquaculture. This wide use constitutes a decisive factor contributing for their frequent detection in the aquatic environment. Tetracyclines are the individual antibiotic subclass with the second highest frequency of detection in environmental matrices. The characterization of the potential ecotoxicological effects of tetracycline is a much-required task; to attain this objective, the present study assessed the acute toxic effects of tetracycline in the freshwater fish species Gambusia holbrooki by the determination of histological changes in the gills and liver, changes in antioxidant defense [glutathione S-transferase (GST), catalase (CAT), and lipoperoxidative damage] as well as potential neurotoxicity (acetylcholinesterase activity). The obtained results suggest the existence of a cause-and-effect relationship between the exposure to tetracycline and histological alterations (more specifically in gills) and enzymatic activity (particularly the enzyme CAT in liver and GST in gills) indicating that this compound can exert a pro-oxidative activity.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the European Regional Development Fund through the COMPETE—Operational Competitiveness Program and by national funds through the Foundation for Science and Technology under the projects PEst-C/MAR/LA0015/2013 and PTDC/AMB/70431/2006.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Biologia, Universidade de Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal

    B. Nunes

  2. Centro Interdisciplinar de Investigação Marinha e Ambiental (CIIMAR/CIMAR), 450-123, Porto, Portugal

    A. T. Correia

  3. Faculdade de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Fernando Pessoa (UFP), 4200-150, Porto, Portugal

    R. Gomes, J. C. Campos, M. R. Braga & A. T. Correia

  4. Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto (FCUP), 4169-007, Porto, Portugal

    S. C. Antunes & A. S. Ramos

  5. Centro de Estudos do Ambiente e do Mar, Universidade de Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal

    B. Nunes & S. C. Antunes

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  1. B. Nunes
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Nunes, B., Antunes, S.C., Gomes, R. et al. Acute Effects of Tetracycline Exposure in the Freshwater Fish Gambusia holbrooki: Antioxidant Effects, Neurotoxicity and Histological Alterations. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 68, 371–381 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-014-0101-z

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