Psychotropic drugs in mixture alter swimming behaviour of Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes) larvae above environmental concentrations

Abstract

Psychiatric pharmaceuticals, such as anxiolytics, sedatives, hypnotics and antidepressors, are among the most prescribed active substances in the world. The occurrence of these compounds in the environment, as well as the adverse effects they can have on non-target organisms, justifies the growing concern about these emerging environmental pollutants. This study aims to analyse the effects of six psychotropic drugs, valproate, cyamemazine, citalopram, sertraline, fluoxetine and oxazepam, on the survival and locomotion of Japanese medaka Oryzias latipes larvae. Newly hatched Japanese medaka were exposed to individual compounds for 72 h, at concentrations ranging from 10 μg L⁻¹ to 10 mg L⁻¹. Lethal concentrations 50 % (LC₅₀) were estimated at 840, 841 and 9,136 μg L⁻¹ for fluoxetine, sertraline and citalopram, respectively, while other compounds did not induce any significant increase in mortality. Analysis of the swimming behaviour of larvae, including total distance moved, mobility and location, provided an estimated lowest observed effect concentration (LOEC) of 10 μg L⁻¹ for citalopram and oxazepam, 12.2 μg L⁻¹ for cyamemazine, 100 μg L⁻¹ for fluoxetine, 1,000 μg L⁻¹ for sertraline and >10,000 μg L⁻¹ for valproate. Realistic environmental mixture of the six psychotropic compounds induced disruption of larval locomotor behaviour at concentrations about 10- to 100-fold greater than environmental concentrations.