Chronic toxicity of diclofenac, carbamazepine and their mixture to Daphnia magna: a comparative two-generational study

The chronic toxicity of diclofenac (DCF) and carbamazepine (CBZ) as separate substances and in conjunction with their mixture on Daphnia magna was assessed in the parental (F0) and first filial (F1) generations. The second (F1–B2) and fifth (F1–B5) broods of F1 offspring were investigated and compared. Both drugs and their mixture were exposed to each generation of Daphnia magna for 21 days with life history, behavioural and gene expressions as measured endpoints. After the parental exposure, offspring from these two broods were transferred to a clean medium for a 21-day recovery. Exposure to diclofenac, carbamazepine and their mixture significantly inhibited growth, reproduction, swimming activities, heart rate, thoracic limb activities, reproductive and antioxidant-related genes in the parental as well as the first filial generations. These effects were relatively greater in the F1 generation. This indicates that Daphnia magna ’s sensitivity improved while its fitness declined over the two generations, which is an indicator of greater energy requirements for maintenance. Besides, the significant inhibition in the antioxidant-related genes implies that oxidative stress occurred in Daphnia magna under the exposure to these drugs. The significant reduction in the reproductive output, moulting frequency and cyp314 gene expression as a result of exposure to CBZ simultaneously obtained herein may indicate that this drug could act as an endocrine disruptor. Most of these significant effects were not recoverable after the 21-day recovery period. The findings reported herein highlight the necessity to include maternal effects in environmental risk assessment processes, considering that pollutant effects are underestimated during single-generational exposure.