Long and Short Duration Exposures to the Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) Fluoxetine, Paroxetine and Sertraline at Environmentally Relevant Concentrations Lead to Adverse Effects on Zebrafish Behaviour and Reproduction
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are currently the most prescribed class of psychotropic medications. Their increased global manufacture and use have become growing concerns for aquatic toxicologists and environmental biologists, who assess both the direct and indirect effects of subs...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-02-01
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| Series: | Toxics |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2305-6304/11/2/151 |
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| author | Ananda Baskaran Venkatachalam Bailey Levesque John C. Achenbach Jane J. Pappas Lee D. Ellis |
| author_facet | Ananda Baskaran Venkatachalam Bailey Levesque John C. Achenbach Jane J. Pappas Lee D. Ellis |
| author_sort | Ananda Baskaran Venkatachalam |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are currently the most prescribed class of psychotropic medications. Their increased global manufacture and use have become growing concerns for aquatic toxicologists and environmental biologists, who assess both the direct and indirect effects of substances on the environment and on human health. In order to assess the potential impact of environmentally relevant levels of SSRIs on fish development, behaviour and reproduction, we exposed juvenile and adult zebrafish to a select group of SSRIs using two separate exposure paradigms. In the first paradigm, juvenile zebrafish were exposed to Fluoxetine (Prozac), Paroxetine (Paxil), Sertraline (Zoloft) or a mixture of the three beginning at environmentally relevant levels (10 µg/L) for 135 days (long-term exposure) beginning at 5 days post fertilization (dpf). In the second paradigm, adult zebrafish were exposed to matching concentrations of the same SSRIs for 35 days (short-term exposure). The long-term exposure paradigm proved to have little to no overt effect on growth or development at sub-lethal concentrations (10 and 100 µg/L). However, both the stress/anxiety response (novel tank tests) and reproduction (fecundity and fertility) were dramatically reduced. Importantly, the short-term exposure of reproductively mature fish led to similar adverse effects on both the stress response and reproduction. Following both the short and long duration exposure paradigms, a 2-week washout period led to a small reduction in the adverse effects. These findings highlight the potential for SSRIs to negatively impact population dynamics in zebrafish and may be of particular value should they be found in other fish species in the environment. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T08:04:21Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e526225023ac4a998b9775e65c76c8ed |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2305-6304 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T08:04:21Z |
| publishDate | 2023-02-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Toxics |
| spelling | doaj.art-e526225023ac4a998b9775e65c76c8ed2023-11-16T23:37:39ZengMDPI AGToxics2305-63042023-02-0111215110.3390/toxics11020151Long and Short Duration Exposures to the Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) Fluoxetine, Paroxetine and Sertraline at Environmentally Relevant Concentrations Lead to Adverse Effects on Zebrafish Behaviour and ReproductionAnanda Baskaran Venkatachalam0Bailey Levesque1John C. Achenbach2Jane J. Pappas3Lee D. Ellis4National Research Council, Halifax, NS B3H 3Z1, CanadaNational Research Council, Halifax, NS B3H 3Z1, CanadaNational Research Council, Halifax, NS B3H 3Z1, CanadaNew Substances Assessment and Control Bureau, Health Canada, Ottawa, ON K1A 0K9, CanadaNational Research Council, Halifax, NS B3H 3Z1, CanadaSelective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are currently the most prescribed class of psychotropic medications. Their increased global manufacture and use have become growing concerns for aquatic toxicologists and environmental biologists, who assess both the direct and indirect effects of substances on the environment and on human health. In order to assess the potential impact of environmentally relevant levels of SSRIs on fish development, behaviour and reproduction, we exposed juvenile and adult zebrafish to a select group of SSRIs using two separate exposure paradigms. In the first paradigm, juvenile zebrafish were exposed to Fluoxetine (Prozac), Paroxetine (Paxil), Sertraline (Zoloft) or a mixture of the three beginning at environmentally relevant levels (10 µg/L) for 135 days (long-term exposure) beginning at 5 days post fertilization (dpf). In the second paradigm, adult zebrafish were exposed to matching concentrations of the same SSRIs for 35 days (short-term exposure). The long-term exposure paradigm proved to have little to no overt effect on growth or development at sub-lethal concentrations (10 and 100 µg/L). However, both the stress/anxiety response (novel tank tests) and reproduction (fecundity and fertility) were dramatically reduced. Importantly, the short-term exposure of reproductively mature fish led to similar adverse effects on both the stress response and reproduction. Following both the short and long duration exposure paradigms, a 2-week washout period led to a small reduction in the adverse effects. These findings highlight the potential for SSRIs to negatively impact population dynamics in zebrafish and may be of particular value should they be found in other fish species in the environment.https://www.mdpi.com/2305-6304/11/2/151zebrafishSSRIsenvironmentstressanxietyfecundity |
| spellingShingle | Ananda Baskaran Venkatachalam Bailey Levesque John C. Achenbach Jane J. Pappas Lee D. Ellis Long and Short Duration Exposures to the Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) Fluoxetine, Paroxetine and Sertraline at Environmentally Relevant Concentrations Lead to Adverse Effects on Zebrafish Behaviour and Reproduction Toxics zebrafish SSRIs environment stress anxiety fecundity |
| title | Long and Short Duration Exposures to the Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) Fluoxetine, Paroxetine and Sertraline at Environmentally Relevant Concentrations Lead to Adverse Effects on Zebrafish Behaviour and Reproduction |
| title_full | Long and Short Duration Exposures to the Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) Fluoxetine, Paroxetine and Sertraline at Environmentally Relevant Concentrations Lead to Adverse Effects on Zebrafish Behaviour and Reproduction |
| title_fullStr | Long and Short Duration Exposures to the Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) Fluoxetine, Paroxetine and Sertraline at Environmentally Relevant Concentrations Lead to Adverse Effects on Zebrafish Behaviour and Reproduction |
| title_full_unstemmed | Long and Short Duration Exposures to the Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) Fluoxetine, Paroxetine and Sertraline at Environmentally Relevant Concentrations Lead to Adverse Effects on Zebrafish Behaviour and Reproduction |
| title_short | Long and Short Duration Exposures to the Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) Fluoxetine, Paroxetine and Sertraline at Environmentally Relevant Concentrations Lead to Adverse Effects on Zebrafish Behaviour and Reproduction |
| title_sort | long and short duration exposures to the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors ssris fluoxetine paroxetine and sertraline at environmentally relevant concentrations lead to adverse effects on zebrafish behaviour and reproduction |
| topic | zebrafish SSRIs environment stress anxiety fecundity |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2305-6304/11/2/151 |
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