Pharmacology

Biography

Biography: Marta Ferreira

Abstract

Chemical compounds, including pharmaceuticals, are constantly released to the environment. The aquatic environments are final sinks for several compounds from natural or anthropogenic origins, thus the effects of these contaminants in organisms exposed to them have to be thoroughly investigated in order to ascertain their impacts to wild life and to the ecosystems. Pharmaceuticals are considered emerging contaminants because their toxic effects and risk to the environment may not be known. The widespread detection of pharmaceuticals in the environment has raised concern about the potential impact. The concern regarding the ecotoxicological effects of pharmaceuticals is based on the assumption of evolutionary conservation of the specific molecular targets, by acting in a specific mode, targeting human receptors or enzymes, they can elicit unwanted responses in non-target species at low concentrations. In fact, in the last decades several studies have reported the negative impacts of these contaminants to aquatic organisms. For example, psychopharmaceuticals (PP) that compensate the abnormal functioning of the neurotransmitter systems by targeting metabolism and secretion of neurotransmitters, can affect neurotransmitter systems in fish thereby impeding fitness and survival on a population scale. Pharmaceuticals can also interfere with efflux transporter proteins that have a role in elimination of pharmaceuticals, determining effective concentration of drugs administration in patients. These proteins are also relevant in bioavailability of contaminants in aquatic species and their inhibition in fish can increase toxicity of normally effluxed compounds. In conclusion, it is of extreme importance to wild and human life to investigate the real effects of pharmaceuticals to aquatic ecosystems.