The PharmaSea Consortium met to discuss activities and results related to the first year of project activities.
Preliminary results from the first large scale field investigation, covering the North Sea, part of the Atlantic Ocean, Western Mediterranean and the Adriatic Sea, revealed the presence of many pharmaceuticals in seawater, sediments and biota from different trophic levels. Investigation on mussels treated with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, cardiovascular compounds, and lipid lowering agents, dosed isolated and as mixtures, revealed not only the capability of mussels to accumulate such molecules, but also changes in the whole transcriptome and impairment of various biochemical and cellular biomarkers including the immune system, lipid and oxidative metabolism and the induction of genotoxicity. The application of a battery of ecotoxicological bioassays highlighted that pharmaceutical significantly affected the algae growth, the embryonic development of sea urchins and zebrafish.
Meeting days have been a great occasion to think and discuss about future activities and events for the stakeholder’s engagement!
The next PharmaSea in-person Consortium meeting will be the next May in Dublin taking the advantage of the Participation to the International Conference SETAC EUROPE.
