The impact of environmental waters on cellular response in human and bacterial cells

• The escalating frequency of pharmaceutical and antibiotic use contributes to the increasing amounts of these substances being released into the environment. While wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) effectively remove substantial amounts of contaminating substances, some are persistent and are released into the environment. It is not possible to identify all of the potentially bioactive substances released into the environment, therefore it is more rational to explore the biological effects of the waters to determine prospective health hazards. The present study evaluates the cellular response of human and bacterial cells (Enterococcus faecalis) to environmental waters upstream anddownstream of the WWTP near the  city of Örebro, Sweden. Water samples werecollected from 4 sites during May 2011. These included a site upstream in Svartån at Tekniska Kvarn, downstream at Naturens Hus near the WWTP, in the recipient Hjälmaren lake and in Ånnaboda lake (control site). THP-1 monocytes exhibited a significant increase in secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines TNF-α and IL-β when treated with waters from Svartån at Naturens Hus, justdownstream of the WWTP outlet. Water from this site was thereafter tested using an environmental E. faecalis isolate and the stress response, virulence and antibiotic gene expression was evaluated by qPCR. There was no statistically significant effect observed on the selected genes in E. faecalis when treated with the environmental waters compared to MQ water. Thus the waters contained substances that influence inflammatory response in human cells in vitro but did not affect fecal indicator enterococci.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Ekologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Ecology (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Mikrobiologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Microbiology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Enviromental Science

Miljövetenskap

Mikrobiologi

Microbiology

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

ovr (subject category)