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Toxicity Thresholds for Diclofenac, Acetaminophen and Ibuprofen in the Water Flea Daphnia magna

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Abstract

Non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) have been frequently detected in aquatic ecosystem and posed a huge risk to non-target organisms. The aim of this study was to evaluate the toxic effects of three typical NSAIDs, diclofenac (DFC), acetaminophen (APAP) and ibuprofen (IBP), toward the water flea Daphnia magna. All three NSAIDs showed remarkable time-dependent and concentration-dependent effects on D. magna, with DFC the highest and APAP the lowest toxic. Survival, growth and reproduction data of D. magna from all bioassays were used to determine the LC10 and LC50 (10 % lethal and median lethal concentrations) values of NSAIDs, as well as the EC10 and EC50 (10 % effect and median effect concentrations) values. Concentrations for the lethal and sublethal toxicity endpoints were mainly in the low ppm-range, of which reproduction was the most sensitive one, indicating that non-target organisms might be adversely affected by relevant ambient low-level concentrations of NSAIDs after long-time exposures.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the National Science Foundation of China (21407030 and U1133005), the Project Supported by Guangdong Natural Science Foundation (2014A030313666), Guangdong Provincial Innovative Development of Marine Economy Regional Demonstration Projects (GD2012-D01-002) and the Special Fund for Agro-scientific Research in the Public Interest (201503108).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Culture Collection and Application, Guangdong Institute of Microbiology, Guangzhou, China

    Juan Du, Cheng-Fang Mei & Mei-Ying Xu

  2. State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology Southern China, Guangzhou, China

    Juan Du, Cheng-Fang Mei & Mei-Ying Xu

  3. Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China

    Guang-Guo Ying

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  1. Juan Du
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  2. Cheng-Fang Mei
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  3. Guang-Guo Ying
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  4. Mei-Ying Xu
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Correspondence to Mei-Ying Xu.

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Du, J., Mei, CF., Ying, GG. et al. Toxicity Thresholds for Diclofenac, Acetaminophen and Ibuprofen in the Water Flea Daphnia magna . Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 97, 84–90 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-016-1806-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-016-1806-7

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