Bioaccumulation and trophic transfer of pharmaceuticals in food webs from a large freshwater lake

Pharmaceuticals are increasingly detected in environmental matrices, but information on their trophic transfer in aquatic food webs is insufficient. This study investigated the bioaccumulation and trophic transfer of 23 pharmaceuticals in Taihu Lake, China. Pharmaceutical concentrations were analyze...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental pollution (1987) 2017-03, Vol.222, p.356-366
Main Authors: Xie, Zhengxin, Lu, Guanghua, Yan, Zhenhua, Liu, Jianchao, Wang, Peifang, Wang, Yonghua
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Aquatic organisms
China
Crustacea - metabolism
Environmental Monitoring
Fishes - metabolism
Food Chain
Geologic Sediments - chemistry
Invertebrates - metabolism
Lakes - chemistry
Pharmaceutical
Pharmaceutical Preparations - analysis
Plankton - metabolism
Taihu lake
Tissue distribution
Trophic transfer
Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis
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Summary:Pharmaceuticals are increasingly detected in environmental matrices, but information on their trophic transfer in aquatic food webs is insufficient. This study investigated the bioaccumulation and trophic transfer of 23 pharmaceuticals in Taihu Lake, China. Pharmaceutical concentrations were analyzed in surface water, sediments and 14 aquatic species, including plankton, invertebrates and fish collected from the lake. The median concentrations of the detected pharmaceuticals ranged from not detected (ND) to 49 ng/L in water, ND to 49 ng/g dry weight (dw) in sediments, and from ND to 130 ng/g dw in biota. Higher concentrations of pharmaceuticals were found in zoobenthos relative to plankton, shrimp and fish muscle. In fish tissues, the observed pharmaceutical contents in the liver and brain were generally higher than those in the gills and muscle. Both bioaccumulation factors (median BAFs: 19–2008 L/kg) and biota−sediment accumulation factors (median BSAFs: 0.0010–0.037) indicated a low bioaccumulation potential for the target pharmaceuticals. For eight of the most frequently detected pharmaceuticals in food webs, the trophic magnification factors (TMFs) were analyzed from two different regions of Taihu Lake. The TMFs for roxithromycin, propranolol, diclofenac, ibuprofen, ofloxacin, norfloxacin, ciprofloxacin and tetracycline in the two food webs ranged from 0.28 to 1.25, suggesting that none of these pharmaceuticals experienced trophic magnification. In addition, the pharmaceutical TMFs did not differ significantly between the two regions in Taihu Lake. [Display omitted] •Bioaccumulation and tropic transfer of pharmaceuticals in aquatic food webs were studied.•Pharmaceuticals displayed high bioaccumulation potential in zoobenthos.•Tissue-specific bioaccumulation of pharmaceuticals was observed in wild fish.•The trophic magnification factors of pharmaceuticals were consistent across two food webs in Taihu Lake. Our study provided important data regarding bioaccumulation and trophic transfer of pharmaceuticals to guide risk assessment of pharmaceuticals.
ISSN:0269-7491
1873-6424
DOI:10.1016/j.envpol.2016.12.026