Preliminary toxicity assessment of pharmaceutical solutions with and without ferrate treatment

An emerging challenge to the scientific community and water industries is water contamination by various micro-pollutants which are pharmaceuticals, personal care products and endocrine disrupting chemicals. The main sources of these micro pollutants are waste waters from industrial effluent and sewage treatment plants. Recent advances in the knowledge have raised concerns about their effects on the human health and ecosystems. In this study, the efficiency of ferrate to remove low concentration of two pharmaceuticals (Simvastatin and Ivermectin, 10 and 100 µg/L) was investigated. Moreover, Zebra fish animal model was employed to access the acute toxicity before and after treatment with ferrate. Mortality, developmental changes (hatching, heart rate, total abnormalities count) and behaviour changes (swimming and activity) were recorded at all stages. Biochemical responses of Chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT), Tumor necrosis factor (TNF), Interleukin 1 (IL-1) and B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) were assessed. The study demonstrated that expression of CAT, TNF, IL-1 and Bcl-2 genes were affected after exposing zebra fish embryos to low concentration pharmaceuticals for 5 days (120 hours post fertilization). Simvastatin significantly increased the expression of anti-oxidant gene (CAT) and decreased the expression of Immune related TNF gene and apoptosis related Bcl-2 gene. Ivermectin showed significant change of expression of CAT and Bcl-2 genes. Ferrate reduced the toxicity of pharmaceuticals by partially removing them during the treatment process.