Short-term exposure to effluent from bulk drug industries

The Patancheru area near Hyderabad in India is recognized as a key link in the global supply chain for many bulk drugs. A central treatment plant receives wastewater from about 90 different manufacturers and the resulting complex effluent has contaminated surface, ground and drinking water in the region. Ecotoxicological testing of the effluent has shown adverse effects for several organisms, including aquatic vertebrates. In an attempt to start investigating how exposure to effluent-contaminated water may affect humans and other terrestrial vertebrates, rats were tube-fed effluent. Results from microarray and quantitative polymerase chain reaction assays indicated, however, no marked effects on hepatic gene expression after five days exposure. Neither did a clinical analysis of blood serum constituents used as biomarkers for human disease reveal any significant changes, nor were there any effects on weight gain. Taken together, we could not find evidence for any acute toxicity in the rat; however, we cannot rule out that higher doses of effluent or a longer exposure time may still be associated with risks for terrestrial vertebrates.印度海得拉巴附近的帕坦切尔乌（Patancheru）地区，是全球多种大宗原料药供应链的关键节点。该地区一座集中处理厂接收约90家厂商排放的废水，由此产生的复杂废水已污染了区域内的地表水、地下水及饮用水。针对该废水的生态毒理学测试表明，其对包括水生脊椎动物在内的多种生物具有不利影响。为探究该废水污染水体的暴露情况会如何影响人类及其他陆生脊椎动物，研究人员通过灌胃方式让大鼠接触该废水。然而，微阵列（microarray）与定量聚合酶链式反应（quantitative polymerase chain reaction）检测结果显示，暴露5天后，大鼠肝脏基因表达未出现显著变化；以血清成分作为人类疾病生物标志物的临床分析亦未发现明显改变，大鼠体重增长也未受影响。综合来看，本研究未发现该废水对大鼠存在急性毒性的证据，但无法排除更高剂量的废水暴露或更长暴露时长，仍可能对陆生脊椎动物构成潜在风险。