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Antibiotics and sweeteners in the aquatic environment: biodegradability, formation of phototransformation products, and in vitro toxicity

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Abstract

In the present study, in vitro toxicity as well as biopersistence and photopersistence of four artificial sweeteners (acesulfame, cyclamate, saccharine, and sucralose) and five antibiotics (levofloxacin, lincomycin, linezolid, marbofloxacin, and sarafloxacin) and of their phototransformation products (PTPs) were investigated. Furthermore, antibiotic activity was evaluated after UV irradiation and after exposure to inocula of a sewage treatment plant. The study reveals that most of the tested compounds and their PTPs were neither readily nor inherently biodegradable in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)-biodegradability tests. The study further demonstrates that PTPs are formed upon irradiation with an Hg lamp (UV light) and, to a lesser extent, upon irradiation with a Xe lamp (mimics sunlight). Comparing the nonirradiated with the corresponding irradiated solutions, a higher chronic toxicity against bacteria was found for the irradiated solutions of linezolid. Neither cytotoxicity nor genotoxicity was found in human cervical (HeLa) and liver (Hep-G2) cells for any of the investigated compounds or their PTPs. Antimicrobial activity of the tested fluoroquinolones was reduced after UV treatment, but it was not reduced after a 28-day exposure to inocula of a sewage treatment plant. This comparative study shows that PTPs can be formed as a result of UV treatment. The study further demonstrated that UV irradiation can be effective in reducing the antimicrobial activity of antibiotics, and consequently may help to reduce antimicrobial resistance in wastewaters. Nevertheless, the study also highlights that some PTPs may exhibit a higher ecotoxicity than the respective parent compounds. Consequently, UV treatment does not transform all micropollutants into harmless compounds and may not be a large-scale effluent treatment option.

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Acknowledgments

Marlies Bergheim wishes to thank the German Environment Foundation (DBU), Stiftung Viamedica (Director: Prof. Daschner), the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), and the Vereinte Studienstiftung of the University of Freiburg for providing financial support through scholarships. We are grateful to two anonymous reviewers whose comments and suggestions helped improving this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Section of Toxicology, University Medical Center Freiburg, Breisacher Strasse 115B, 79106, Freiburg, Germany

    Marlies Bergheim, Richard Gminski, Volker Mersch-Sundermann & Klaus Kümmerer

  2. Institute of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Freiburg, Albertstrasse 23b, 79104, Freiburg, Germany

    Marlies Bergheim

  3. Process Engineering and Environmental Technologies, University of Applied Sciences, Badstrasse 24, 77652, Offenburg, Germany

    Bernd Spangenberg

  4. Molecular Toxicology Group, Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstrasse 10, 78457, Konstanz, Germany

    Malgorzata Debiak & Alexander Bürkle

  5. Institute of Sustainable and Environmental Chemistry, Leuphana University Lüneburg, Scharnhorststraße 1/C13, 21335, Lueneburg, Germany

    Klaus Kümmerer

  6. Department of Earth and Environmental Science, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104-6316, USA

    Reto Gieré

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  1. Marlies Bergheim
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  2. Richard Gminski
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Correspondence to Marlies Bergheim.

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Responsible editor: Roland Kallenborn

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Fig. 1S

Total ion chromatograms (TICs), extracted ion chromatograms (EICs) (m/z 338, m/z 267, m/z 289, m/z 294, m/z 316, m/z 372, m/z 350) and UV spectra (275 nm) of linezolid from test samples at 0 min, 4 min and 128 min irradiation with a Hg lamp (left) and a Xe lamp (right) (PPT 536 kb)

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Bergheim, M., Gminski, R., Spangenberg, B. et al. Antibiotics and sweeteners in the aquatic environment: biodegradability, formation of phototransformation products, and in vitro toxicity. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22, 18017–18030 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-4831-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-4831-x

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