Semester

Fall

Date of Graduation

2023

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MS

College

Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design

Department

Division of Forestry and Natural Resources

Committee Chair

Kyle J Hartman

Committee Member

Patricia Mazik

Committee Member

Anthony Morise

Abstract

Within this thesis the source, presence, and the estimated ecotoxicological effects of cardiovascular medicines, specifically statins and beta-blockers are described within the Buckhannon, Tygart Valley, and West Fork Rivers of West Virginia. Included within this thesis is a general introduction providing key background information and relevant research related to the source, presence, and known toxicity of statins and beta-blockers. Following the general introduction there are 3 distinct chapters. Chapter 1 focuses on the estimated demographic based source loadings and the surface water concentration characteristics of statins and beta-blockers within the three rivers. Chapter 2 investigates the effects of statins and beta-blockers on fish health using several metrics related to relevant statin and beta-blocker surface water concentrations within the Tygart Valley and West Fork rivers. Chapter 3 provides a novel statin analyte detection methodology to ascertain the concentrations of popular statins within whole fish homogenate and provides the first empirical bioconcentration values for these statins.

Cardiovascular medicines are a crucial component in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases throughout the world. In the United States alone statins and beta-blockers claim a large portion of all pharmaceuticals currently available and being consumed. Given the widespread use, distribution, and estimated increase in the usage of these medicines, this study’s first objective was the provide a more accurate estimate of potential pharmaceutical loadings based on recent demographic and prescription rate data while comparing these values to empirically derived wastewater treatment plant and surface water concentrations. A total of 48 water grab samples were collected from 3 wastewater treatment plants across all 3 previously mentioned river systems from August 2020 to November 2020. Local human population demographic data coupled with pharmaceutical prescription rates generated more accurate loadings data which in turn provided more accurate estimates of surface water concentrations following the calculation of wastewater treatment removal rates. In addition, traditional water quality measurements displayed a variety of positive and negative relationships among the various statins and beta-blockers present in surface waters that will further elucidate the potential vulnerability of effluent dominated bodies of water.

Pharmaceutical waste, including statins and beta-blockers, pseudo-persist within aquatic ecosystems due to a constant influx and degradation of these wastes. Aquatic organisms including ray finned fish are chronically exposed to trace amounts of these biologically active agents which has been hypothesized to result in negative physiological impacts to various biological systems. A total of 1018 fish specimens representing 7 genera were collected and euthanized for evaluating the relative weight, hepatosomatic index, and gonadosomatic index in November 2020 from the Tygart Valley and West Fork rivers. An additional 13 of these specimens were reserved from the Tygart Valley River for whole fish tissue analysis to detect and quantify the concentration of 4 popular statins, atorvastatin, lovastatin, rosuvastatin, and simvastatin. Differences in liver and gonad health metrics were detected based on sex and differences in relative weight of 7 genera were detected relative to the various concentrations of cardiovascular medicines in the surface waters. Finally, 4 statins were detected and quantified within 6 fish species at concentrations ranging from 0.015 ng/g to 0.452 ng/g. Using the tissue concentrations, the first empirical bioconcentration factors were evaluated for atorvastatin and simvastatin. The results from these methods and analyses furthered the understanding of the sub-lethal chronic effects resulting from prolong exposure to these pharmaceuticals as well as a better understanding of how these pharmaceuticals accumulate within various fish species. Furthermore, the results from this study should be considered when planning future studies to assess the potential risk posed by these contaminants as well as ways to improve the accuracy and precision of estimating sub-lethal effects.

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