OpenTox Virtual Conference 2021 Session 8

The acute, chronic, and transgenerational effects of antibiotics on Daphnia Magna 

Katie O’Rourke, Konstantinos Grintzalis 

Dublin City University, School of Biotechnology 

Funding Body: Irish Research Council, Science Foundation Ireland  

In recent years, pollution of water bodies by antimicrobial compounds has become a major concern, and  is recognized by the World Health Organization as one of the three most serious threats to society.  Moreover, antibiotics such as sulfamethoxazole and amoxicillin have been recognized being a potential  threat to aquatic wildlife and have been added to the EU Watch List. Antibiotics eventuate into aquatic  ecosystems through several pathways, including wastewater treatment plant effluent, improper disposal  and from land surface run-off. Alike other pharmaceuticals, antibiotics pose a threat to freshwater biota  by disrupting typical biocenosis and by the inhibition of normal biological processes. However, they are  unique as they also contribute to the phenomena of antibiotic resistance which is a risk to both human  and animal health. Modern water monitoring techniques produce greater insight to the potential toxicity  of antibiotics by using effect-based methods and employing model species i.e. Daphnia magna. In this  study we assessed the potential toxicity of amoxicillin, trimethoprim, erythromycin, and sulfamethoxazole  by measuring a number of phenotypic and molecular endpoints. Daphniids were exposed acutely (24  hours), and chronically (21 days) and their responses were assessed. In addition, to evaluate the  transgenerational impact of antibiotic exposure, daphniids were exposed to an environmentally relevant  concentration of the antibiotics and their mixture over four generations and a number of biochemical  markers were assessed. Results showed distinct responses for each antibiotic and different trends among  the duration and type of exposure.