A case of contagious toxicity? Isoprostanes as potential emerging contaminants of concern

Sally Gaw, Chris N. Glover

Research output: Contribution to journalComment/debate

8 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Isoprostanes are useful biomarkers of human and animal health, being representative of oxidative stress processes, and having biological impacts associated with toxicity and disease. Isoprostanes are also chemically stable, a property facilitating population-level health assessments through wastewater sampling. However, as biologically-active entities, the presence of isoprostanes in domestic effluents could have toxic impacts on biota in receiving environments. As such it is proposed that isoprostanes are emerging organic contaminants of particular concern. Fish and aquatic invertebrates may be affected by the presence of isoprostanes in wastewaters through mechanisms such as reproductive impairment, cardiovascular disturbance and/or oxidative stress. This would represent a unique scenario of "contagious" toxicity, whereby human health has a direct toxicological consequence on aquatic animal health.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)295-298
Number of pages4
JournalScience of the Total Environment
Volume560-561
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Aug. 2016

Keywords

  • Aquatic organisms
  • Emerging contaminants
  • Isoprostanes
  • Wastewater

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