Jean-Yves Mazzitelli: Laboratoire Biochimie et Toxicologie des Substances Bioactives (EA BTSB 7417), University of Toulouse, INU Champollion, Albi, France.
Hélène Budzinski: EPOC UMR 5805, University of Bordeaux, Pessac, France.
Jérôme Cachot: EPOC UMR 5805, University of Bordeaux, Pessac, France.
Olivier Geffard: Irstea, UR MALY (Freshwater Systems, Ecology and Pollution), Villeurbanne, France.
Pierre Marty: Laboratoire Biochimie et Toxicologie des Substances Bioactives (EA BTSB 7417), University of Toulouse, INU Champollion, Albi, France.
Axelle Chiffre: EPOC UMR 5805, University of Bordeaux, Pessac, France.
Adeline François: Irstea, UR MALY (Freshwater Systems, Ecology and Pollution), Villeurbanne, France.
Elsa Bonnafe: Laboratoire Biochimie et Toxicologie des Substances Bioactives (EA BTSB 7417), University of Toulouse, INU Champollion, Albi, France.
Florence Geret: Laboratoire Biochimie et Toxicologie des Substances Bioactives (EA BTSB 7417), University of Toulouse, INU Champollion, Albi, France. florence.geret@univ-jfc.fr. ORCID
The primary source of pharmaceuticals to the aquatic environment is the discharge of wastewater effluents. Pharmaceuticals are a large and diverse group of compounds. Among them, psychotropic substances are particularly interesting to study due to their specific known mode of action. The present study was performed to investigate the effects of wastewater effluents from a psychiatric hospital wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) on several aquatic organisms. All the analyzed pharmaceuticals (10 compounds) were detected in WWTP effluents as well as in the receiving river. Although the environmental concentrations were generally at trace levels (ng L to μg L), induce toxic effects were observed. This study showed the effects of the WWTP effluents on the oogenesis and/or embryogenesis of amphipod crustacean Gammarus fossarum, Japanese fish medaka Oryzias latipes, mollusk Radix peregra, and planarian Schmidtea polychroa. A decrease of the number of oocytes and produced embryos was observed for G. fossarum and S. polychroa. Similarly, the hatching rate of R. peregra was affected by effluents. In the receiving river, the macroinvertebrate community was affected by the wastewater effluents discharge.
