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Description
The remarkably cross-Europe increased use of pharmaceuticals and their large disposal volumes raised concern about the ubiquitous occurrence and impacts of these compounds in natural marine ecosystems. The PHARMARINE project will contribute to EU policy by providing new experimental knowledge on unknown yet transport vectors and fate of human drugs via ocean currents from the continental Europe to polar regions in the European Arctic. Potential aqueous biopathways of pharmaceuticals (dissolved phase in water and forms bound to phytoplankton and dominant zooplankton species) will be investigated at several locations along a northward transect going from the South (the Baltic Sea and the North Sea catchment areas) through the Norwegian Coastal Current and warm North Atlantic Current to the Spitsbergen fjords (Hornsund and Kongsfjorden) in the North. In addition, potential of pharmaceuticals to accumulate in the benthic macroinvertebrates will be unravelled in order to assess contamination status of the Arctic fauna. The PHARMARINE will use the available field and laboratory facilities and expertise of Polish-Norwegian research teams of complementary competence, to study important and environmentally relevant issues. The proposed project will produce new data and conceptual understanding of: 1) potential transport pathways of pharmaceuticals with water masses from mid-latitude more contaminated areas to the European Arctic; 2) bioaccumulation and biomagnification processes of drugs in the Arctic; 3) biological impacts of pharmaceutical pollutants on sedentary benthic species. The resulting biological indicators of stress induced by the presence of drugs in the ambient environment can also provide a useful tool to forecast and assess environmental risk assessment in the European Arctic.
Summary of project results
The PHARMARINE project aimed at delivering new model-simulated and experimental knowledge on unknown yet transport vectors and the fate of human medicinal products via ocean currents from continental Europe to polar regions in the European Arctic. Aqueous pathways of pharmaceuticals were investigated at several locations along a northward transect going from the South (the Baltic Sea and the North Sea) through the Norwegian Coastal Current and warm North Atlantic Current to the Spitsbergen fjords (Hornsund and Kongsfjorden) in the North. In addition, the potential of pharmaceuticals to accumulate in the benthic macroinvertebrates was unravelled to assess the contamination status of the Arctic fauna. Biomagnification of pharmaceuticals in benthic food web was also studied at one Arctic location employing a stable nitrogen isotope ratio as an indicator of trophic position. By exposing macrobenthic faunal species to selected pharmaceuticals at environmental and above-environmental concentrations under simulated cold Arctic conditions in a series of laboratory experiments, harmful effects on animals were quantified. Biological responses were measured at different levels of biological organisation (from genes and cells to metabolic activity) using early-warning biomarkers such as DNA and proteins. Results of the laboratory experiments provided provide novel empirical information on biological impacts and threat pharmaceuticals pose on the Arctic marine ecosystem.
The PHARMARINE project employed advanced field methods (e.g., high-volume solid phase extraction (HV-SPE), in-situ laboratory experiments and state-of-art chemical and biological analytics to address important environmental issues on the presence and impacts of medicinal products (pharmaceuticals and stimulants) in the European Arctic (the Svalbard archipelago). The project provided novel empirical data that can be used in ecological risk assessment of the Arctic.
- Long-range horizontal transport with sea currents from continental Europe to the European Arctic was simulated for diclofenac.
- A pattern of body accumulation and release of pharmaceuticals (citalopram, carbamazepine, ibuprofen and tetracycline) from the zooplanktonic calanoid Calanus finmarchicus were defined indicating the high dynamics of drug physiological processes and limited importance of zooplankton as a vector of long-range transfer of these compounds to the Arctic.
- Low seawater temperature was proven to increase the stability of pharmaceuticals which show a higher affinity for inorganic suspended particulate matter than for phytoplankton.
- Using bivalves as biomonitors it was revealed elevated contamination of the Arctic fauna with atenolol and diclofenac, and a moderate contamination with carbamazepine, ciprofloxacin, citalopram, sulfamethoxazole and tetracycline.
- The trophic magnification factor (TMF) indicated no accumulation of nicotine in food web (TMF < 1.0) and biomagnification of ciprofloxacin (TMF > 1.0).
- Exposure of model Arctic macrobenthic invertebrates (bivalve Chlamys islandica and crustacean Gammarus oceanicus) to pharmaceuticals (carbamazepine, ciprofloxacin and ibuprofen) at environmental and above-environmental concentrations induced apparent biological responses, particularly at the biochemical and histological levels.
- Carbamazepine was found to cause adverse functional and structural changes in the bivalves’ reproduction system with the potential to affect fecundity and fertility. Regressive changes in the digestive system interrupted intake and assimilation of food leading to disturbance in energy expenditures.
- Exposure of gammarids to antibiotic ciprofloxacin and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug ibuprofen was showed to induce oxidative stress indicating accumulation of reactive oxygen in the animals.
By combining field methods and laboratory experiments with advanced analytical chemistry, biochemistry and histology techniques PHARMARINE has made important progress in understanding the behaviour, distribution and accumulation of semipersistent medicinal products in the marine environment with a particular focus on the European Arctic. The project provided novel empirical data on biological impacts and threats pharmaceuticals pose to the Arctic biota which can be used in ecological risk assessment of the Arctic. It has delivered pioneering results on the presence and concentrations of pharmaceuticals and stimulants in seawater and zooplankton in coastal and open-water areas along the northward transect from the North Sea and the Baltic Sea to the Fram Strait. The project has reviewed for the first time the occurrence of pharmaceuticals and stimulants in macrobenthic fauna from the Spitsbergen fjords which allowed defining the contamination status of this pristine ecosystem. It has also documented important variations in drug behaviour in the macrobenthic food web highlighting the potential of some compounds to bioaccumulate and biomagnify. In the initial phase of the project implementation, a new system for high-volume solid phase extraction (HV-SPE) was invented to perform extraction under field conditions during sea cruises. A new extraction method of pharmaceuticals from biological matrices (zooplankton and macrobenthic fauna) was elaborated to reduce methodological constraints resulting from the complexity of organic matrices. PHARMARINE estimated release rates of pharmaceuticals to the coastal zone of Europe and simulated long-range transport of these compounds from more contaminated mid-latitude areas of the Baltic Sea and the North Sea with the Norwegian Coastal Current and the North Atlantic Current to the European Arctic. Laboratory studies revealed the high stability of pharmaceuticals at low temperatures and the partitioning of these compounds between inorganic particles and phytoplankton. In addition, a multimarker approach, linking analyses of endpoints at different levels of biological organisation (e.g., molecular, histological, biochemical) allowed delineating responses of the Arctic fauna to pharmaceutical pollution. The defined changes to functional and structural traits provided useful insights for a more realistic environmental risk assessment for these emerging pollutants in the Arctic ecosystem.
Summary of bilateral results
There were five partner institutions (including Project Promoter) at the beginning of the project. The enhanced cooperation between beneficiary and donor country entities has been satisfactory (despite the fact that one of the Norwegian partners, the University Centre in Svalbard, decided to withdraw from the program during its course). The project enabled partners to exchange experience and to transfer know-how across different marine disciplines (e.g. chemistry and environmental analytics, oceanography, biology, ecology, physiology, ecotoxicology) as well as to get access to unique research infrastructure (research ship, laboratories, equipment) and sampling sites. In addition, the project was as a useful platform to undertake joint research and educational activities such as new projects, common MSc, PhD and Post-docs, to facilitate scientific networks and to enhance future funding opportunities. The PHARMARINE provided thus exceptional opportunities for the Polish and Norwegian research and educational institutions to form and further develop long-term large-scale research partnerships between the two countries with ultimate aim to build cooperation for future activities (like joint applications to the EU Horizon Europe). Sharing knowledge and experiences within multilateral links are essential for academic and scientific accomplishment and contributed inevitably to development of all project partners. This collaboration has resulted in several joint applications for further funding, including two successful applications under the Arctic Field Grant.