Effects of the antidepressants citalopram and venlafaxine on the big ramshorn snail (Planorbarius corneus)
Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
Depression is a serious health issue and, being such, treatment for it has become a topic of increasing concern. Consequently, the prescription rates of antidepressants have increased by about 50% over the past decade. Among antidepressants, citalopram and venlafaxine are the most frequently prescribed in Germany. Due to the high consumption and low elimination rates of both antidepressants during wastewater purification, they are frequently found in surface waters, where they may pose a risk to the aquatic environment. For the present study, we conducted experiments with the big ramshorn snail, which we exposed to environmentally relevant and explicitly higher concentrations (1–1000 µg/L) of the antidepressants citalopram and venlafaxine. We investigated apical endpoints, such as weight, mortality, behavioural changes, B-esterase activity, Hsp70 stress protein level and superoxide dismutase activity, as well as the tissue integrity of the hepatopan-creas in the exposed snails. Citalopram and venlafaxine had no effects on the B-esterase activity, Hsp70 level and superoxide dismutase activity. Citalopram exposure resulted in weight reduction and tissue reactions in the hepatopancreas of snails exposed to 1000 µg/L. In contrast, venlafaxine did not induce comparable effects, but impacted the behaviour (sole detachment) of snails exposed to 100 µg/L and 1000 µg/L of the antidepressant. These results revealed that venlafaxine can affect snails at concentrations 10 times lower than citalopram. For this, in 2020 venlafaxine was intro-duced in the “Surface Water Watch List”, a list of potential pollutants that should be carefully monitored in surface water by the EU Member States.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 1722 |
| Journal | Water (Switzerland) |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue number | 13 |
| ISSN | 2073-4441 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2021 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:
Acknowledgments: The authors thank the Ministry of Science, Research and Arts of Ba-den-Württemberg for funding the Effect-Net project (Effect Network in Water Research), which is part of the Water Research Network Baden-Württemberg (Wassernetzwerk Baden-Württemberg), and are indebted to Thomas Braunbeck for coordinating this project. We acknowledge the support of the Open Access Publishing Fund of University of Tübingen. Furthermore, the authors would like to thank Helene Heyer, Joanna Probst, and Janina Vanhöfen who completed their theses within the project. Further thanks go to Stefanie Jacob, Stefanie Krais, Elisabeth May, Katharina Peschke, Hannah Schmieg, Mona Schweizer, and Sabrina Wilhelm for laboratory support and technical assistance and to Stefanie Dietz and Mona Schweizer for constructive comments on the manuscript.
Funding Information:
Funding: This research was funded by the Ministry of Science, Research and Arts of Ba-den-Württemberg within the Water Research Network Baden-Württemberg (Wassernetzwerk Ba-den-Württemberg), in which the project Effect-Net (Effect Network in Water Research) was embedded Grant No. 33-5733-25-11t32/2). Furthermore, the Authors were supported by the Open Access Publishing Fund of the University of Tübingen.
Funding Information:
This research was funded by the Ministry of Science, Research and Arts of Ba-den-W?rttemberg within the Water Research Network Baden-W?rttemberg (Wassernetzwerk Ba-den-W?rttemberg), in which the project Effect-Net (Effect Network in Water Research) was em-bedded Grant No. 33-5733-25-11t32/2). Furthermore, the Authors were supported by the Open Access Publishing Fund of the University of T?bingen.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
- Acetylcholinesterase, Antidepressant, Behaviour, Big ramshorn snail, Citalopram, Histopathology, Superoxide dismutase, Venlafaxine
Research areas
ID: 314628911