Pharmaceutical metabolites in the environment: Analytical challenges and ecological risks

The occurrence of human and veterinary pharmaceuticals in the environment has been a subject of concern for the past decade because many of these emerging contaminants have been shown to persist in soil and water. Although recent studies indicate that pharmaceutical contaminants can pose long-term e...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Environmental toxicology and chemistry Vol. 28; no. 12; pp. 2473 - 2484
Main Authors:	Celiz, Mary D, Tso, Jerry, Aga, Diana S
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Hoboken Wiley Periodicals, Inc 01-12-2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Subjects:	Biodegradation Biotransformation Chromatography, Liquid Contaminants Drug contaminants drugs Ecology Ecotoxicity ecotoxicology Environmental assessment environmental fate environmental impact Environmental monitoring Environmental Pollutants - analysis Environmental Pollutants - toxicity Environmental risk Identification Liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry literature reviews Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Mass Spectrometry Metabolites Pharmaceutical industry wastes Pharmaceutical Preparations - metabolism Pharmaceuticals pollutants Risk Risk assessment veterinary drugs Water treatment
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Summary:	The occurrence of human and veterinary pharmaceuticals in the environment has been a subject of concern for the past decade because many of these emerging contaminants have been shown to persist in soil and water. Although recent studies indicate that pharmaceutical contaminants can pose long-term ecological risks, many of the investigations regarding risk assessment have only considered the ecotoxicity of the parent drug, with very little attention given to the potential contributions that metabolites may have. The scarcity of available environmental data on the human metabolites excreted into the environment or the microbial metabolites formed during environmental biodegradation of pharmaceutical residues can be attributed to the difficulty in analyzing trace amounts of previously unknown compounds in complex sample matrices. However, with the advent of highly sensitive and powerful analytical instrumentations that have become available commercially, it is likely that an increased number of pharmaceutical metabolites will be identified and included in environmental risk assessment. The present study will present a critical review of available literature on pharmaceutical metabolites, primarily focusing on their analysis and toxicological significance. It is also intended to provide an overview on the recent advances in analytical tools and strategies to facilitate metabolite identification in environmental samples. This review aims to provide insight on what future directions might be taken to help scientists in this challenging task of enhancing the available data on the fate, behavior, and ecotoxicity of pharmaceutical metabolites in the environment.
Bibliography:	ark:/67375/WNG-28G05SR6-0 Published on the Web 8/10/2009. istex:C81D7D2164E136FBCEE0ECBDFDF4701A4B6919B1 ArticleID:ETC5620281202
ISSN:	0730-7268 1552-8618
DOI:	10.1897/09-173.1