Toxicity of the pharmaceuticals finasteride and melengestrol acetate to benthic invertebrates

• Published in: Environmental science and pollution research international 2020-11, Vol.27 (33), p.41803-41815
• Main Authors: Gilroy, Ève A. M., Bartlett, Adrienne J., Gillis, Patricia L., Bendo, Nicholas A., Salerno, Joseph, Hedges, Amanda M., Brown, Lisa R., Holman, Emily A. M., Stock, Naomi L., de Solla, Shane R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acetic acid; Acute toxicity; Animals; Aquatic environment; Aquatic insects; Aquatic Pollution; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Benthic fauna; Bivalvia; Contaminants; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Environmental science; Ephemeroptera; Female; Finasteride - toxicity; Invertebrates; Juveniles; Lampsilis siliquoidea; Melengestrol Acetate; Mussels; Pharmaceutical Preparations; Pharmaceuticals; Reproduction (biology); Research Article; Sediments; Sex ratio; Soil testing; Survival; Toxicity; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollutants, Chemical - toxicity; Water Pollution Control
• ISSN: 0944-1344; 1614-7499
• DOI: 10.1007/s11356-020-10121-7

The toxicity of endocrinologically active pharmaceuticals finasteride (FIN) and melengestrol acetate (MGA) was assessed in freshwater mussels, including acute (48 h) aqueous tests with glochidia from Lampsilis siliquoidea , sub-chronic (14 days) sediment tests with gravid female Lampsilis fasciola , and chronic (28 days) sediment tests with juvenile L. siliquoidea , and in chronic (42 days) sediment tests with the amphipod Hyalella azteca and the mayfly Hexagenia spp. Finasteride was not toxic in acute aqueous tests with L. siliquoidea glochidia (up to 23 mg/L), whereas significant toxicity to survival and burial ability was detected in chronic sediment tests with juvenile L. siliquoidea (chronic value (ChV, the geometric mean of LOEC and NOEC) = 58 mg/kg (1 mg/L)). Amphipods (survival, growth, reproduction, and sex ratio) and mayflies (growth) were similarly sensitive (ChV = 58 mg/kg (1 mg/L)). Melengestrol acetate was acutely toxic to L. siliquoidea glochidia at 4 mg/L in aqueous tests; in sediment tests, mayflies were the most sensitive species, with significant growth effects observed at 37 mg/kg (0.25 mg/L) (ChV = 21 mg/kg (0.1 mg/L)). Exposure to sublethal concentrations of FIN and MGA had no effect on the (luring and filtering) behaviour of gravid L. fasciola , or the viability of their brooding glochidia. Based on the limited number of measured environmental concentrations of both chemicals, and their projected concentrations, no direct effects are expected by these compounds individually on the invertebrates tested. However, organisms are exposed to contaminant mixtures in the aquatic environment, and thus, the effects of FIN and MGA as components of these mixtures require further investigation.