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Toxicological responses, bioaccumulation, and metabolic fate of triclosan in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

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Abstract

Triclosan (TCS) is a broad-spectrum antimicrobial agent that is broadly used in personal care products. It has been shown to cause the contamination of a variety of aquatic environments. Since algae has been the primary producers of aquatic ecosystems, understanding the toxicological mechanisms and the metabolic fate of TCS is vital for assessing its risk in an aquatic environment. In our study, 0.5–4 mg L−1 TCS treatments for 72 h in a culture of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (C. reinhardtii) showed progressive inhibition of cell growth and reduced the chlorophyll content. The EC50 value of C. reinhardtii after 72 h was 1.637 mg L−1, which showed its higher level of resistance to TCS in comparison with other algal species. The exposure to TCS led to oxidative injuries of algae in relation to the increment of malonaldehyde content, cell membrane permeability, and H2O2 levels. Furthermore, the oxidative stress from TCS stimulated a series of antioxidant enzyme activities and their gene expressions. Simultaneously, the accumulated TCS in C. reinhardtii arouses the detoxification/degradation-related enzymes and related gene transcriptions. In the medium, approximately 82% of TCS was removed by C. reinhardtii. Importantly, eight TCS metabolites were identified by ultra-performance liquid chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry and their relative abundances were measured in a time-course experiment. Six of these metabolites are reported here for the first time. The metabolic pathways of triclosan via C. reinhardtii including reductive dechlorination, hydroxylation, sulfhydrylation, and binding with thiol/cysteine/GSH/glycosyl were manifested to broaden our understanding of the environmental fate of TCS.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21707070; 31860552), Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province in China (BK20170998), and the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2018YFC1602800).

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Correspondence to Yi Chen Lu.

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The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

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Highlights

• Toxicological responses of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii to triclosan were investigated.

• Biotransformation products of triclosan via Chlamydomonas reinhardtii were identified and quantified by ultra-performance liquid chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry.

• The proposed metabolic pathway of triclosan in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii was manifested.

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Wang, X.D., Lu, Y.C., Xiong, X.H. et al. Toxicological responses, bioaccumulation, and metabolic fate of triclosan in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 11246–11259 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-07704-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-07704-9

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