Hormetic effect(s) of tetracyclines as environmental contaminant on Zea mays

Animal wastes from intensive pig farming as fertilizers may expose crops to antimicrobials. Zea mays cultivations were carried out on a virgin field, subjected to dressing with pig slurries contaminated at 15 mg L⁻¹ of Oxy- and 5 mg L⁻¹ of Chlor-tetracycline, and at 8 mg L⁻¹ of Oxy and 3 mg L⁻¹ of Chlor, respectively. Pot cultivation was performed outdoor (Oxy in the range 62.5-1000 ng g⁻¹ dry soil) and plants harvested after 45 days. Tetracyclines analyses on soils and on field plants (roots, stalks, and leaves) did not determine the appreciable presence of tetracyclines. Residues were found in the 45-day pot corn only, in the range of 1-50 ng g⁻¹ for Oxy in roots, accounting for a 5% carry-over rate, on average. Although no detectable residues in plants from on land cultivations, both experimental batches showed the same biphasic growth form corresponding to a dose/response hormetic curve.     

Occurrence of veterinary antibiotics in animal wastewater and surface water around farms in Jiangsu Province, China

The objective of this investigation was to obtain a broad profile of veterinary antibiotics residues in animal wastewater and surface water around large-scale livestock and poultry farms in Jiangsu Province of China. Therefore, 53 samples collected from 27 large-scale animal farms in 11 cities and counties of Jiangsu Province in 2009, were monitored for 10 selected veterinary antibiotics using solid phase extraction and high performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC/ESI-MS/MS) techniques. Ten veterinary antibiotics were found in animal wastewaters, eight antibiotics were detected in pond waters, and animal farm-effluents and river water samples were contaminated by nine antibiotics. The most frequently detected antibiotics were sulfamethazine (75%), oxytetracycline (64%), tetracycline (60%), sulfadiazine (55%) and sulfamethoxazole (51%) which were detected with a maximum concentration of 211, 72.9, 10.3, 17.0 and 63.6 μg L⁻¹, respectively. The maximum concentration of 0.55 μg L⁻¹ for cyromazine, 3.67 μg L⁻¹ for chlortetracycline, 0.63 μg L⁻¹ for sulfadoxine, 39.5 μg L⁻¹ for doxycycline and 0.64 μg L⁻¹ for sulfaquinoxaline were determined in the collected samples. In general, the maximum concentration of the selected veterinary antibiotics was detected in animal wastewaters except for chlortetracycline in animal farm-effluents. In addition, residue levels of selected veterinary antibiotics in animal wastewater and surface water around the farms were related to animal species and have a high spatial variation.     

梅江流域沉积物中四环素类抗生素的空间分布特征及其迁移转化规律

为研究养殖业中四环素类(TCs)抗生素的使用对河流生态环境的影响,选取养殖业发达的江西省梅江流域作为研究区域,进行了养猪场规模及用药情况调查、水样采集与流域范围的沉积物样品采集.同时,利用固相萃取和超高效液相色谱-质谱联用测定了样品中11种TCs的浓度.结果显示,养猪场水样中TCs浓度在μg·L-1级,流域沉积物中TCs含量在μg·kg-1级.各子流域沉积物中大部分TCs含量与相应的养殖密度呈正相关关系.大多数TCs在小溪沉积物中的最大含量高于干流沉积物,说明TCs是从养猪场进入小溪流再逐渐迁移到干流中.3条支流(会同河、固厚河和琴江)的汇入都使得梅江干流沉积物中TCs含量增加,而梅江干流在没有支流汇入的区段从上游至下游TCs浓度呈衰减态势.四环素(Tetracycline,TC)和土霉素(Oxytetracycline,OTC)在迁移过程中主要的降解产物分别为差向四环素(4-Epitetracycline,ETC)和差向土霉素(4-Epioxytetracycline,EOTC),后两者同为差向异构化降解产物.尽管TCs在迁移过程中发生一定程度降解,但由于环境中养猪场的持续输入,使得TCs对河流生态系统仍然存在一定威胁.4-差向脱水四环素(4-Epianhydrotetracycline,EATC)等降解产物的浓度虽然低于其母体,但由于其环境毒性较大,因此,存在的生态风险不容忽视.     

Evaluation of the interaction between soil and antibiotics

The aim of this study was to investigate the occurrence of tetracycline and sulfonamide antibiotics in 13 different soil samples collected from agricultural fields. As well as the antibiotic analysis 18 different physicochemical properties of the soil samples were determined in order to establish a relationship between the recovery rates of antibiotics from the samples and the characteristics of the samples that provide critical information for the reliability of an applied antibiotic analysis method. While the concentrations of tetracyclines were 0.025–0.105 mg kg^?1 sulfonamide antibiotics were not detected in any investigated soil samples. The mean recovery rates of tetracyclines and sulfonamides were 84.57 ± 14.92% and 65.88 ± 8.56%, respectively. Although, the organic carbon contents and cation exchange capacities of the soil samples exhibited a great variation the results of multivariate statistical analysis indicated that the metal content of soils was the major factor significantly influenced the recovery rates of the antibiotics. The sulfonamide recovery rates were positively influenced by the calcium and magnesium amounts in the soil samples, whereas tetracycline recovery rates were markedly diminished by increasing the amount of these polyvalent metals.     

Production of monoclonal antibody against doxycycline for immunoassay of seven tetracyclines in bovine muscle and milk

The objective of this study was to produce a generic monoclonal antibody for multi-determination of the residues of tetracycline drugs in bovine muscle and milk. Two new immunogens of doxycycline were prepared that were used to produce the monoclonal antibodies. Results showed the obtained antibodies simultaneously recognized seven tetracycline drugs (doxycycline, tetracycline, chlortetracycline, oxytetracycline, minocycline, methacycline, demeclocycline). The obtained antibodies and three coating antigens were arranged into six combinations to optimize the reagents combination. After comparison of the performances of these combinations, a heterologous indirect competitive ELISA was then used to determine the seven tetracyclines in bovine muscle and milk. The crossreactivities to the seven analytes were in the range of 47%–102% and the limits of detection were in the range of 1.5–6.9 ng/mL depending on the compound. The recoveries of the seven drugs from fortified blank samples were in the range of 75.3%–106.8% with coefficients of variation lower than 10.9%. Therefore, this method could be used as a multi-analytes screen tool for routine monitoring of the residues of these tetracycline drugs in bovine muscle and milk.     

Fate of trace tetracycline with resistant bacteria and resistance genes in an improved AAO wastewater treatment plant

The fate of trace tetracycline, tetracycline resistant bacteria (TRB) and tetracycline resistant genes (TRGs) in an improved anaerobic-anoxic-oxic (AAO) wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) was investigated in this study. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and conventional heterotrophic plate count method were used to measure eight tet genes (tetA, tetB, tetC, tetE, tetM, tetO, tetS and tetX) and TRB, respectively. The TRB percent of total heterotrophic bacteria (THB) is about 1.31–24.1% in WWTP influent. Tet gene abundance in the WWTP varied greatly among the gene types. The concentrations of TRGs in effluent samples ranged from 7.11 × 10⁻⁹ to 1.53 × 10⁻⁴ copies/copy 16S rRNA gene. TRB and THB, tetM and tetO, tetE and tetX, but not the others, showed a significant correlation with each other (p < 0.01). The relationships between ribosomal protection protein genes, enzymatic modification gene and corresponding concentrations of antibiotics were found to be considerably significant (R² = 0.898, p < 0.01 for ribosomal protection protein genes and R² = 0.872, p < 0.05 for enzymatic modification gene).     

Influence of hydraulic retention time on behavior of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes in aerobic granular reactor treating biogas slurry

Longer HRT can enhance degradation rate of sulfamethoxazole in granular reactor. Longer HRT can reduce accumulated concentrations of TCs and QNs in sludge. Longer HRT may have increased relative abundances of ARGs in aerobic granules. The behavior of antibiotics and the corresponding resistance genes in aerobic granular reactors for treating biogas slurry under different hydraulic retention times (10.7 h, R1; 8 h, R2) was investigated in this study. The results indicated that the hydraulic retention time could affect the effluent concentrations and removal efficiencies of sulfonamides. The average removal rates of tetracyclines, fluoroquinolones, and sulfonamides were 63%, 46%, and 90% in R1, and 62%, 46%, and 86% in R2, respectively. Although the removal efficiencies of tetracyclines and fluoroquinolones were similar in both reactors, the respective accumulated concentrations of tetracyclines and fluoroquinolones in R1 were 7.00 and 11.15 µg/g SS, which were lower than those in R2 (8.92 and 13.37 µg/g SS, respectively). The difference in the relative abundance of target antibiotic resistance genes between both reactors was not significant, yet the average relative abundances of all target resistance genes in R1 were higher than those in R2 after 45 days of operation. The results of this study suggested that a longer hydraulic retention time could enhance the antibiotic removal ability of aerobic granular sludge, yet it may also increase the risk of surplus sludge utilization from a resistance genes point of view.     

Fabrication of magnetic multi-template molecularly imprinted polymer composite for the selective and efficient removal of tetracyclines from water

• Magnetic multi-template molecularly imprinted polymer composite was synthesized. • MIP composite was used as the adsorbent for removal of tetracyclines from water. • MIP composite showed excellent adsorption selectivity toward tetracyclines. • MIP composite possessed good reusability. Antibiotic contamination of the water environment has attracted much attention from researchers because of their potential hazards to humans and ecosystems. In this study, a multi-template molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) modified mesoporous silica coated magnetic graphene oxide (MGO@MS@MIP) was prepared by the surface imprinting method via a sol-gel process and was used for the selective, efficient and simultaneous removal of tetracyclines (TCs), including doxycycline (DC), tetracycline (TC), chlorotetracycline (CTC) and oxytetracycline (OTC) from water. The synthesized MIP composite was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, transmission electron microscope and thermogravimetric analysis. The adsorption properties of MGO@MS@MIP for these TCs were characterized through adsorption kinetics, isotherms and selectivity tests. The MIP composite revealed larger adsorption quantities, excellent selectivity and rapid kinetics for these four tetracyclines. The adsorption process was spontaneous and endothermic and followed the Freundlich isotherm model and the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The MGO@MS@MIP could specifically recognize DC, TC, CTC and OTC in the presence of some chemical analogs. In addition, the sorption capacity of the MIP composite did not decrease significantly after repeated application for at least five cycles. Thus, the prepared magnetic MIP composite has great potential to contribute to the effective separation and removal of tetracyclines from water.