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International audience; Pharmaceuticals are pollutants of potential concern in the aquatic environment where they are commonly introduced as complex mixtures via municipal effluents. Many reports underline the effects of pharmaceuticals on immune system of non target species. Four drug mixtures were tested, and regrouped pharmaceuticals by main therapeutic use: psychiatric (venlafaxine, carbamazepine, diazepam), antibiotic (ciprofloxacine, erythromycin, novobiocin, oxytetracycline, sulfamethoxazole, trimethoprim), hypolipemic (atorvastatin, gemfibrozil, benzafibrate) and antihypertensive (atenolol, furosemide, hydrochlorothiazide, lisinopril). Their effects were then compared with a treated municipal effluent known for its contamination, and its effects on the immune response of Lymnaea stagnalis. Adult L. stagnalis were exposed for 3 days to an environmentally relevant concentration of the four mixtures individually and as a global mixture. Effects on immunocompetence (hemocyte viability and count, ROS and thiol levels, phagocytosis) and gene expression were related to the immune response and oxidative stress: catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione reductase (GR), Selenium-dependent glutathione peroxidase (SeGPx), two isoforms of the nitric oxide synthetase gene (NOS1 and NOS2), molluscan defensive molecule (MDM), Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), allograft inflammatory factor-1 (AIF) and heat-shock protein 70 (HSP70). Immunocompetence was differently affected by the therapeutic class mixtures compared to the global mixture, which increased hemocyte count, ROS levels and phagocytosis, and decreased intracellular thiol levels. TLR4 gene expression was the most strongly increased, especially by psychiatric mixture (19-fold), while AIF-1, GR and CAT genes were downregulated. A decision tree analysis revealed that the immunotoxic responses caused by the municipal effluent were comparable to those obtained with the global pharmaceutical mixture, and the latter shared similarity with the antibiotic mixture. This suggests that pharmaceutical mixtures in municipal effluents represent a risk for gastropods at the immunocompetence levels and the antibiotic group could represent a model therapeutic class for municipal effluent toxicity studies in L. stagnalis.

International audience; We used a freshwater gastropod, Lymnaea palustris, in chronic bioassays to assess the toxicity of an industrial effluent containing high levels of metals, particularly Cr, Zn, and Fe. Adult snails were exposed for four weeks to different concentrations of effluent sampled at three successive treatment steps (crude effluent, effluent after physicochemical treatment, and after biological treatment). Dose-dependent responses reflecting exposure (metal bioaccumulation) and effects on survival, fecundity, and malondialdehyde production (a proxy for oxidative stress) were investigated. We found that Cr and Zn were accumulated in snail tissues, whereas Fe was regulated. Body concentrations of Cr and Zn decreased along the effluent-treatment gradient, particularly after the physicochemical treatment. For controls versus treatments, no effect on malondialdehyde production was detected. Significant effects were noted for fecundity. The number of eggs per individual decreased for snails exposed to 20, 30, and 40% concentrations of physicochemically treated effluent and for snails exposed to an 80% concentration of the biologically treated effluent. A hormetic effect on the number of eggs per individual was observed for snails exposed to 10 and 20% concentrations of the effluent that had been biologically treated. Deleterious effects of the effluent on L. palustris fecundity were not correlated with high internal concentrations of metals in the snails, suggesting that toxicity resulted from other factors.

International audience