Recycling and Waste Management

There are increasing concerns about the occurrence of pharmaceuticals in our aquatic environment. Several reports have already demonstrated that behaviors of aquatic life were signifi cantly altered by exposure to very low levels of neuroactive pharmaceutical pollutants. Many such neuroactive pharmaceuticals are not able to be removed eff ectively by conventional wastewater treatment processes and are directly discharged to the receiving aquatic environment. Assessment of their environmental risks is complicated by their relatively low lethal toxicity. In our previous studies, we developed an analytical method for the profi ling of classical neurotransmitters and their metabolites in the CNS of a small model fi sh. We found that their profi les are very sensitive to in vivo neurotoxicological impacts. Zebrafi sh (Danio rerio) is an increasingly recognized vertebrate model for neurobehavioral studies and is also an ideal model for translational neuroscience research. In this work, we exposed zebrafi sh to a commonly prescribed antidepressant, which is also an emerging environmental contaminant, Fluoxetine (Prozac™), for a period of 14 days. Aft erwards, novel tank test was conducted to evaluate behavioral eff ects of the drug to the fi sh. Immediate aft er behavioral test, the whole brain tissue of the fi sh was subjected to neurotransmitter profiling. Multivariate analysis was conducted to correlate the perturbation of the neurotransmitter profi le with behavioral changes induced by the drug. Results of our study provide metabolomic information to link the neurotoxicological eff ects of neuroactive chemicals with their in vivo neurobehavioral impacts. Th is profi ling approach can also become a new tool for environmental risk assessment of neuroactive contaminants.