Zebrafish embryo bioassays for a comprehensive evaluation of microalgae efficiency in the removal of diclofenac from water

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2018

Authors

Escapa, C (Author) Other; Torres, T (Author) Other; Neuparth, T (Author) Other; Coimbra, RN (Author) Other; Garcia, AI (Author) Other; Santos, MM (Author) FCUP; Otero, M (Author) Other

Journal

Title: Science of the Total Environment

Vol. 640

Pages: 1024-1033

ISSN: 0048-9697

Publisher: Elsevier

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 31 Citations

Scopus - 32 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00P-016

DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.05.353

Abstract (EN): This work deals with a preliminary study aimed at evaluating the efficiency of three different microalgae strains, namely Chlorella sorokiniana, Chlorella vulgaris and Scenedesmus obliquus in the bioremediation of diclofenac contaminated water. For this purpose, microalgae were cultured in bubbling column photobioreactors (PBRs) under batch operation until the end of the exponential growth phase. For the three strains, the concentration of diclofenac in the PBRs aquatic medium decreased along microalgae growing, which pointed to biodegradation as the main removal mechanism. Among the three strains, S. obliquus was the most capable to reduce diclofenac concentration (99% removal from an initial concentration of 25,000 mu g l(-1)). However, such a large removal does not guarantee an efficient treatment since transformation products (TPs) exceeding the concentration and/or toxicity of the parent compound may be generated during biodegradation of diclofenac. Thus, for a comprehensive evaluation of the microalgae treatments efficiency, the final effluents from the PBRs were tested for their effects on the embryonic development of zebrafish. Again, the S. obliquus treatment was the most efficient in the reduction of toxicity, with the corresponding effluents having no effects on the embryo's mortality or abnormalities incidence (at 80 h post fertilization). In any case, for the three strains, the toxicity effects of effluents were equal or lower than those determined for diclofenac solutions with the same concentration. Therefore, it may be stated that, at the end of the batch culture, the removal of diclofenac by the considered strains did not involve the generation of toxic TPs to zebrafish embryos.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 10