1. Academic Validation
  2. Ecotoxic effects of loratadine and its metabolic and light-induced derivatives

Ecotoxic effects of loratadine and its metabolic and light-induced derivatives

  • Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 2019 Apr 15;170:664-672. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2018.11.116.
Maria Rosaria Iesce 1 Margherita Lavorgna 2 Chiara Russo 2 Concetta Piscitelli 2 Monica Passananti 3 Fabio Temussi 4 Marina DellaGreca 4 Flavio Cermola 4 Marina Isidori 5
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, Università Federico II, Via Cintia, 4, I-80126 Napoli, Italy. Electronic address: [email protected].
  • 2 Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Ambientali, Biologiche e Farmaceutiche, Università della Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli", Via Vivaldi 43, I-81100 Caserta, Italy.
  • 3 Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research/Physics, Faculty of Science, Gustaf Hällströmin katu 2a, FI-00014, University of Helsinki, Finland.
  • 4 Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, Università Federico II, Via Cintia, 4, I-80126 Napoli, Italy.
  • 5 Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Ambientali, Biologiche e Farmaceutiche, Università della Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli", Via Vivaldi 43, I-81100 Caserta, Italy. Electronic address: [email protected].
Abstract

Loratadine and desloratadine are second-generation antihistaminic drugs. Because of human administration, they are continuously released via excreta into wastewater treatment Plants and occur in surface waters as residues and transformation products (TPs). Loratadine and desloratadine residues have been found at very low concentrations (ng/L) in the aquatic environment but their toxic effects are still not well known. Both drugs are light-sensitive even under environmentally simulated conditions and some of the photoproducts have been isolated and characterized. The aim of the present study was to investigate the acute and chronic ecotoxicity of loratadine, desloratadine and their light-induced transformation products in organisms of the aquatic trophic chain. Bioassays were performed in the alga Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata, the rotifer Brachionus calyciflorus and in two crustaceans, Thamnocephalus platyurus and Ceriodaphnia dubia. Loratadine exerted its acute and chronic toxicity especially on Ceriodaphnia dubia (LC50: 600 µg/L, EC50: 28.14 µg/L) while desloratadine showed similar acute toxicity among the organisms tested and it was the most chronically effective compound in Ceriodaphnia dubia and Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata. Generally, transformation products were less active in both acute and chronic assays.

Keywords

Acute toxicity; Antihistaminic drug; Chronic toxicity; Desloratadine; Loratadine; Photoproducts.

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