School of Environment, Tsinghua University, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution Control and Remediation Technology, China.
College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, China.
Environ Int. 2023 Sep;179:108140. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2023.108140. Epub 2023 Aug 10.
Antibiotics are emerging pollutants that have detrimental effects on both target and non-target organisms in the environment. However, current methods for environmental risk assessment primarily focus on the risk to non-target organisms in ecosystems, overlooking a crucial risk of antibiotics - the induction of resistance in targeted bacteria. To address this oversight, we have incorporated resistance (R) risk with persistence, bioaccumulation and toxicity (PBT) to establish a more comprehensive PBTR (persistence, bioaccumulation, toxicity, and resistance) framework for antibiotic-specific risk assessment. Using the PBTR framework, we evaluated 74 antibiotics detected in Chinese seawater from 2000 to 2021, and identified priority antibiotics. Our analysis revealed that the priority antibiotics with R risk accounted for the largest proportion (50% to 70%), followed by P risk (40% to 58%), T risk (16% to 35%) and B risk (0 to 13%). To further categorize these priority antibiotics, we assigned them a risk level according to their fulfillment of criteria related to P, B, T, and R. Antibiotics meeting all four indicators were classified as Grade I, representing the highest risk level. Grade II and Grade III were assigned to antibiotics meeting three or two indicators, respectively. Antibiotics meeting only one indicator were classified as Grade IV, representing the lowest risk level. The majority of priority antibiotics fell into Grade IV, indicating low risk (55% to 79%), followed by Grade III (16% to 45%). The highest risk antibiotic identified in this study was clindamycin (CLIN), categorized as Grade II, in the East China Sea. Our findings aligned with previous studies for 25 antibiotics, affirming the validity of the PBTR framework. Moreover, we identified 13 new priority antibiotics, highlighting the advancement of this approach. This study provides a feasible screening strategy and monitoring recommendations for priority antibiotics in Chinese seawater.
抗生素是新兴污染物，对环境中的目标和非目标生物都有不利影响。然而，当前的环境风险评估方法主要侧重于生态系统中非目标生物的风险，而忽略了抗生素的一个关键风险——对目标细菌的耐药性诱导。为了解决这一疏忽，我们将耐药性（R）风险与持久性、生物累积性和毒性（PBT）相结合，建立了一个更全面的抗生素特定风险评估的 PBT-R（持久性、生物累积性、毒性和耐药性）框架。使用 PBT-R 框架，我们评估了 2000 年至 2021 年期间在中国海水中检测到的 74 种抗生素，并确定了优先抗生素。我们的分析表明，具有 R 风险的优先抗生素占比最大（50%至 70%），其次是 P 风险（40%至 58%）、T 风险（16%至 35%）和 B 风险（0 至 13%）。为了进一步对这些优先抗生素进行分类，我们根据它们在 P、B、T 和 R 相关标准的满足情况对它们进行了风险级别划分。符合所有四个指标的抗生素被归类为一级，代表最高风险级别。符合三个或两个指标的抗生素被归类为二级和三级。仅符合一个指标的抗生素被归类为四级，代表最低风险级别。大多数优先抗生素属于四级，表明风险较低（55%至 79%），其次是三级（16%至 45%）。在这项研究中确定的风险最高的抗生素是克林霉素（CLIN），归类为二级，位于东海。我们的研究结果与之前对 25 种抗生素的研究一致，证实了 PBT-R 框架的有效性。此外，我们还确定了 13 种新的优先抗生素，这突显了该方法的进步。本研究为中国海水中的优先抗生素提供了可行的筛选策略和监测建议。
