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Turkish Journal of Zoology

Abstract

The combined effects of pharmaceuticals and nanoparticles (NPs) on aquatic organisms remain insufficiently characterized. The present study examined toxicokinetics and multibiomarker responses of Cyprinus carpio (common carp) following exposure to sulfamethoxazole (SMX) and titanium dioxide (TiO₂) NPs. Juvenile fish were treated with SMX (25, 50, and 100 μg/L) alone and in combination with 1.5 mg/L TiO₂ NPs (96 h). TiO₂ NPs had a significant effect on the bioaccumulation of SMX in muscle tissues, with SMX reaching peak concentrations of 2286.54 ng/g in the 100 μg/L SMX + 1.5 mg/L TiO₂ NPs group after 72 h, compared to 1477.2 ng/g with SMX exposure alone. Adsorption kinetics showed 49.6% loss of SMX after 24 h due to interaction with TiO₂ NPs, conforming to pseudo-first-order kinetics (R² = 0.96). Biochemical assessments showed decreased glucose (35.1 mg/dL) and total protein (15 mg/L) concentrations, and increased alanine transaminase levels in the 100 μg/L SMX + 1.5 mg/L TiO₂ NPs group, indicating metabolic stress and liver damage. Immunohematological assessment showed increased production of reactive oxygen species, while histopathological evaluations revealed extensive gill and liver lesions in the 25, 50, and 100 μg/L SMX + 1.5 mg/L TiO₂ NPs groups. Histopathology included vacuolization, congestion, and epithelial lifting in tissue, suggesting synergistic toxicity in the 25, 50, and 100 μg/L SMX + 1.5 mg/L TiO₂ NPs groups. This study demonstrates that TiO₂ NPs enhance the toxicokinetics of SMX in fish through the integration of adsorption kinetics with multibiomarker and histopathological endpoints. Altogether, these findings demonstrate that TiO₂ NPs modulate antibiotic bioavailability and toxicity and highlight the need for multicomponent environmental risk evaluations to consider cocontaminant interactions.

Author ORCID Identifier

NAZISH IFTIKHAR: 0009-0002-7626-024X

RABEEA ZAFAR: 0009-0005-1174-0834

IMRAN HASHMI: 0000-0002-6647-6808

ASMA JAMIL: 0000-0002-5731-7477

CHRISTOPHER MARTYNIUK: 0000-0003-0921-4796

MUNIB SHAFIQUE: 0000-0003-4791-6043

DOI

10.55730/1300-0179.3363

Keywords

Fish, oxidative stress, titanium dioxide, nanoparticles, antibiotic, bioaccumulation

First Page

384

Last Page

396

Publisher

The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TÜBİTAK)

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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