RUI: Influence of Wastewater Treatment on Fate, Transport, and Bioaccumulation of Antidepressant Pharmaceuticals in Terrestrial Environments

1235900舒尔茨在美国，抗抑郁药物是处方量最大的药品之一。人类药物进入废水处理，随后进入环境，主要是通过人类排泄的家庭废物或直接在厕所处理未使用或过期的药物。由于抗抑郁药在美国被广泛使用，并且在城市污水处理过程中没有完全去除，因此在我们的水道中测量这些化学物质也就不足为奇了。据报道，在废水排放和接收废水的地表水中，抗抑郁药和选择性降解物的含量在每升纳克至低微克范围内。包括抗抑郁药在内的药物活性化合物的存在和潜在积累对生活在通过废水排放持续接触抗抑郁药的环境中的非目标生物构成了巨大威胁。实验室和实地研究证实，非目标生物，如生活在污水接收水中的鱼类，可以在其组织中积累抗抑郁药。实验室暴露研究报告，抗抑郁药暴露对这些非目标生物有行为和生理后果。大多数关于抗抑郁药在环境中的命运和运输的研究都集中在水生系统上。本研究的主要目的是测量抗抑郁药在陆地环境中的命运、运输和潜在的生物积累，考虑到废水处理技术可能修复和减少其随后进入环境的负荷。具体目标包括：(i)确定抗抑郁药在生物固体和生物固体改性土壤中的发生、分布和命运；（ii）调查生活在生物固体改性土壤中的蚯蚓体内抗抑郁药的生物积累；（iii）探索污泥处理过程中抗抑郁药修复的潜力。公众和监管机构对环境中存在的药品和个人护理产品的兴趣正在增加。抗抑郁药是特别值得关注的环境污染物，因为它们被广泛使用，具有生物活性（包括其许多降解产物），是常见的废水污染物，并且已被证明对生活在受废水影响的环境中的生物造成不利影响。该项目将调查污水处理厂在向陆地环境引入抗抑郁药方面所起的作用，同时探索可以减少其环境负荷的污水处理厂修复技术。这项研究的结果将有助于我们理解废水处理与抗抑郁药从生物固体到陆地环境的命运、运输和可能的生物积累之间的关系，这是一个目前尚未充分研究的研究领域。

1235900SchultzAntidepressant pharmaceuticals are one of the most heavily prescribed pharmaceutical products in the United States. Human pharmaceuticals enter wastewater treatment and, subsequently, the environment, primarily by way of domestic waste from human excretion or by direct disposal of unused or expired drugs in toilets. Since antidepressants are widely prescribed in the United States and are incompletely removed during municipal wastewater treatment, it is not surprising that these chemicals are being measured in our waterways. Antidepressants and select degradates have been reported in wastewater effluent and in effluent-receiving surface waters at nanogram to low microgram per liter range. The presence and potential accumulation of pharmaceutically active compounds, including antidepressants, poses a great threat to non-target organisms that live in environments that receive continuous exposure of antidepressants via wastewater discharge. Laboratory and field studies confirm that non-target organisms, such as fish that live in wastewater effluent receiving waters, can accumulate antidepressants in their tissues. Laboratory exposure studies report that there are behavioral and physiological consequences of antidepressant exposure on these non-target organisms. Most research regarding the fate and transport of antidepressants in the environment has focused on aquatic systems. The primary objectives of this research are to measure the fate, transport, and the potential for bioaccumulation of antidepressants in terrestrial environments considering wastewater treatment technologies that may remediate and reduce their subsequent loads into the environment. Specific aims include: (i) to determine the occurrence, distribution, and fate of antidepressants in biosolids and biosolids-amended soils (ii) investigate the bioaccumulation of antidepressants in earthworms living in biosolid-amended soils, and (iii) explore the potential for remediation of antidepressants during sludge treatment.Public and regulatory interest regarding the presence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in the environment is increasing. Antidepressants are environmental contaminants of particular concern because they are widely dispensed, are bioactive (including many of their degradation products), are common wastewater contaminants, and have been shown to cause adverse effects in organisms living in wastewater-impacted environments. This project will investigate the role wastewater treatment plants plays in introducing antidepressants to terrestrial environments, while exploring wastewater treatment plants remediation technologies that could reduce their environmental loads. Results from this study will assist our understanding of the relationship between wastewater treatment and the fate, transport, and possible bioaccumulation of antidepressants from biosolids to terrestrial environments, an area of research that is currently understudied.