Sutradhar Indorica, Kalyan Prinjali, Chukwu Kelechi, Abia Akebe Luther King, Mbanga Joshua, Essack Sabiha, Hamer Davidson H, Zaman Muhammad H
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, United States.
Antimicrobial Research Unit, School of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa.
Front Microbiol. 2025 Mar 5;16:1539807. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1539807. eCollection 2025.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global health challenge and there is increasing recognition of the role of the environment, particularly wastewater, in the development and spread of AMR. Although trace metals are common contaminants in wastewater, the quantitative effects of trace metals on AMR in wastewater settings remain understudied. We experimentally determined the interactions between common antibiotic residues and metal ions found in wastewater and investigated their effects on the development of antibiotic resistance in over time. These data were then used to expand on a previously developed computational model of antibiotic resistance development in continuous flow settings to incorporate the effects of trace metals acting in combination with multiple antibiotic residues. We found that copper and iron, interact with both ciprofloxacin and doxycycline at wastewater relevant concentrations. This can significantly affect resistance development due to antibiotic chelation of the metal ions causing a reduction in the antibiotics' bioactivity. Furthermore, modeling the effect of these interactions in wastewater systems showed the potential for metal ions in wastewater to significantly increase the development of antibiotic resistant populations. These results demonstrate the need to quantitatively understand the effects of trace metal-antibiotic interactions on AMR development in wastewater.
抗生素耐药性（AMR）是一项全球性的健康挑战，人们越来越认识到环境，尤其是废水，在AMR的产生和传播中所起的作用。尽管痕量金属是废水中常见的污染物，但痕量金属对废水环境中AMR的定量影响仍未得到充分研究。我们通过实验确定了废水中常见抗生素残留与金属离子之间的相互作用，并研究了它们随时间对抗生素耐药性发展的影响。然后，这些数据被用于扩展先前开发的连续流环境中抗生素耐药性发展的计算模型，以纳入痕量金属与多种抗生素残留共同作用的影响。我们发现，在与废水相关的浓度下，铜和铁会与环丙沙星和强力霉素发生相互作用。由于金属离子的抗生素螯合作用导致抗生素生物活性降低，这会显著影响耐药性的发展。此外，对这些相互作用在废水系统中的影响进行建模表明，废水中的金属离子有可能显著增加抗生素耐药菌群体的发展。这些结果表明，有必要定量了解痕量金属 - 抗生素相互作用对废水中AMR发展的影响。
