Pharmaceutical Effects on the Early Life Stages of Zebrafish (Danio rerio)

Abstract

The increasing amount of pharmaceuticals in the environment is an emerging environmental issue. In the Philippines, studies regarding the long-term effects of these drugs on non-target organisms are lacking up to now. To determine their developmental toxicity on the development of fish embryos, zebrafish eggs were exposed to various concentrations of paracetamol, ibuprofen (1,000 |ig/L, 5,000 pig/L, 10,000 |ig/L) and a combination of both (500:500 jig/L, 2,500:2,500 pg/L, 5,000 |ig/L:5,000 |ig/L). Early developmental stage parameters such as embryo mortality, gastrulation, somite formation, tail detachment, contraction, and pigmentation were noted and described within the 48 hours and 96 hours time exposure. Results revealed that both drugs and the combination of the two caused teratogenic effects on the embryos. Delays in hatching were observed but the embryos did not differ morphologically from normally hatched embryos. Data on percent abnormality and percent survival showed significant differences for all embryos exposed to the pharmaceutical treatments. The higher concentrations of ibuprofen (5,000 pg/L, 10,000 pg/L) and that of the combination of the two drugs (2,500:2,500 pg/L, 5,000 |ig/L:5,000 pig/L) caused the greatest teratogenic effects on the embryos. These data indicate that the concentration thresholds at which paracetamol and ibuprofen induced teratogenic effects on the embryos were met in the current study.