A case of contagious toxicity? Isoprostanes as potential emerging contaminants of concern.
Isoprostanes are useful biomarkers of human and animal health, being representative of oxidative stress processes, and having biological impacts associated with toxicity and disease. Isoprostanes are also chemically stable, a property facilitating population-level health assessments through wastewater sampling. However, as biologically-active entities, the presence of isoprostanes in domestic effluents could have toxic impacts on biota in receiving environments. As such it is proposed that isoprostanes are emerging organic contaminants of particular concern. Fish and aquatic invertebrates may be affected by the presence of isoprostanes in wastewaters through mechanisms such as reproductive impairment, cardiovascular disturbance and/or oxidative stress. This would represent a unique scenario of "contagious" toxicity, whereby human health has a direct toxicological consequence on aquatic animal health.
Department of Chemistry, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand. Electronic address: sally.gaw@canterbury.ac.nz.
Sally
S
Gaw
Faculty of Science and Technology, Athabasca University, Alberta, Canada.
Chris N
CN
Glover
D000818:Animals; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005399:Fishes; D006801:Humans; D007448:Invertebrates; D028421:Isoprostanes / Q000032:analysis* / Q000633:toxicity; D062065:Wastewater / Q000737:chemistry; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis* / Q000633:toxicity
D028421:Isoprostanes; D062065:Wastewater; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
Aquatic organisms; Emerging contaminants; Isoprostanes; Wastewater