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Acute effects of various antibiotic combinations on acetoclastic methanogenic activity

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Abstract

Pharmaceutical production industries are one of the main sources of antibiotics, and they release considerable amounts of antibiotics to ecosystem. Antibiotics usually present as mixtures in treatment plants and have negative effect on biological processes. In this study, batch acute tests were performed to assess the inhibitory impacts of selected antibiotic combinations of sulfamethoxazole and tetracycline (ST), erythromycin and sulfamethoxazole (ES), and erythromycin and tetracycline (ET) on acetoclastic methanogenic activity. Each antibiotic was equally applied, making the total concentrations in the mixtures 0 (control), 2, 20, 50, 100, 250, and 500 mg/L. Results showed decline characteristic on methane production with increasing antibiotic concentrations. EC50 values were calculated as 275 mg/L for ES, 219 mg/L for ST, and 130 mg/L for ET. Mixture inhibition of ST and ET combinations were accurately predicted using the concept of independent action, while ES combination resulted in almost the same inhibition with that of single antibiotic response. Inhibition on acetate utilization followed similar trend with methane production inhibition.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Turkish Association of Science and Technology (TUBITAK, Project No: 110Y310) and Istanbul Technical University Research Foundation (Project No: 35074).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Engineering Department, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Istanbul Technical University, 34469, Maslak, Istanbul, Turkey

    E. Gozde Ozbayram, Osman Arikan, Zeynep Cetecioglu, Sevcan Aydin & Orhan Ince

  2. Institutes of Environmental Sciences, Bogazici University, Bebek, Istanbul, Turkey

    Bahar Ince

Authors
  1. E. Gozde Ozbayram
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  2. Osman Arikan
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  3. Bahar Ince
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  4. Zeynep Cetecioglu
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  5. Sevcan Aydin
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  6. Orhan Ince
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Correspondence to E. Gozde Ozbayram.

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Responsible editor: Robert Duran

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Ozbayram, E.G., Arikan, O., Ince, B. et al. Acute effects of various antibiotic combinations on acetoclastic methanogenic activity. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22, 6230–6235 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-3841-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-3841-4

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