The effects of Hydroxypropyl-β-Cyclodextrin on the American Flagfish (Jordanella floridae) over one complete life-cycle

Abstract

Understanding the impacts of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) on aquatic ecosystems is an important issue in aquatic toxicology. Many PPCPs have been shown to cause effects on aquatic biota within detected environmental ranges. One compound of particular interest is hydroxylpropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HPβCD), the active ingredient in Febreeze®, and widely used for many applications. HPβCD is amphiphilic, toroidal in shape, and able to form non-covalent inclusion complexes with a variety of guest molecules. HPβCD has been shown to reduce volatility as well as improve the aqueous solubility of apolar guest compounds. As such, the use of HPβCD in the pharmaceutical and personal care industry has dramatically increased. With increasing potential for entering the environment through wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluent, HPβCD poses an unknown risk to non-target aquatic biota. As a result, a 145-day chronic full life-cycle exposure using American flagfish (Jordanella floridae) was completed using flow-through concentrations of 0 (control), 5, 16, 50,160, 500, and 1600 μg/L of HPβCD maintained via a peristaltic pump. No significant differences were observed in growth, condition factor (K) and hepatosomatic index (HSI) when chronically exposed to HPβCD (P ≤ 0.05). A significant increase in female gonadosomatic index (GSI) occurred in those exposed to HPβCD (P ≤ 0.05). A reduction in the time to reach steady-state spawning occurred at 1600 μg/L of HPβCD, while an increase in the total number of days eggs were laid was observed at 16, 160, and 1600 μg/L of HPβCD (P ≤ 0.05). A temporary reduction in offspring total length occurred at 21 days post hatch at 5, 16, 50, 160, and 500 μg/L of HPβCD (P ≤ 0.05). Finally, larval offspring from parents exposed to HPβCD showed a moderate 3-fold decrease in tolerance to acute copper toxicity.