title: Toxic potential of paracetamol to freshwater organisms: a headache to environmental regulators?
abstract: Paracetamol is one of the most prescribed drugs globally, due to its antipyretic and analgesic properties. However, it is highly toxic at elevated doses, with involvement of an already described oxidative stress pathway. Despite this, the number of ecotoxicological studies on potential effects of paracetamol in wild organisms is still scarce. The present article presents a comprehensive series of standardized assays for the assessment of paracetamol effects in freshwater organisms. The results show that paracetamol toxicity is widely variable among species, even when these species are phylogenetically related. Furthermore, comparisons between data from the literature and our results reinforce this conclusion, providing evidence of the inadequacy of standardized toxicity testing guidelines for pharmaceutical compounds in wild organisms. Paracetamol toxicity can be modulated by unpredictable physiological conditions that might compromise extrapolations and comparisons of responsiveness among species. The ecological relevance of data obtained from classical tests for this compound is further discussed.
authors.affiliation: Centro de Estudos do Ambiente e do Mar (CESAM), Universidade de Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal; Departamento de Biologia da Universidade de Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal.
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Nunes
authors.affiliation: Centro de Estudos do Ambiente e do Mar (CESAM), Universidade de Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal; Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal. Electronic address: scantunes@fc.up.pt.
authors.forename: Sara C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Antunes
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biologia da Universidade de Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal.
authors.forename: Joana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Ciências da Saúde da Universidade Fernando Pessoa (FCS-UFP), Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Liliana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Martins
authors.affiliation: Centro de Estudos do Ambiente e do Mar (CESAM), Universidade de Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal; Departamento de Biologia da Universidade de Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal.
authors.forename: Bruno B
authors.initials: BB
authors.lastname: Castro
mesh_terms: D000082:Acetaminophen / Q000633:toxicity*; D048908:Aliivibrio fischeri; D018712:Analgesics, Non-Narcotic / Q000633:toxicity*; D000818:Animals; D059001:Aquatic Organisms / Q000187:drug effects*; D003621:Daphnia; D004777:Environment; D005260:Female; D005618:Fresh Water; D019684:Magnoliopsida; D058086:Microalgae; D012016:Reference Values; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000633:toxicity*
chemical_list: D018712:Analgesics, Non-Narcotic; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D000082:Acetaminophen
keywords: Acetaminophen; Aquatic organisms; Effects assessment; Pharmaceutical drugs; Species sensitivity distribution curve; Standard toxicity tests