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Microbial Remediation of Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products

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Abstract

The pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) comprise prescribed and non-prescribed drugs, whereas the personal care products (PCPs) are being used to improve the quality of human life. The synthesis and use of PPCPs are increasing globally because of the growing population. The PPCPs contain organic compounds like antibiotics, analgesics, hormones, endocrine disruptors, and UV filters used in the sunscreen. In fact these pharmaceuticals are metabolized by the host and lateron excreted into the environment through urine and feces while the PCPs enter the environment through direct or indirect metabolization pathways. These PPCPs, either in parent form or as a metabolite conjugate, are then released in the surface water as well as groundwater, thus polluting them. The PPCPs may cause adverse effects to aquatic organisms and human health due to their high potential to act biologically even at nanogram levels. The PPCPs are designed in such a way that can target enzymatic, metabolic, and cell-signaling mechanisms even at a lower dose. However, when the PPCPs enter the environment, they are still active and may provoke ecotoxicological effects on non-target organisms. This might adversely affect the key physiological functions, metabolism, and reproduction even at lower dosage. Some of these PPCPs at lower concentration may not exert significant toxic response but might elicit considerable ecotoxicity when they are present in mixtures. Furthermore, there are chances of generating antibiotic resistant microorganisms due to their long time exposure to the antibiotics which are the most common PPCPs. Further, the metabolites produced from a parent pollutant may exert significant lethal response when compared to parent pollutant. Due to their adverse effects on the environment, it is essential to remediate the pharmaceutical compounds by the novel microorganisms. Therefore, this chapter is mainly focused on the microbial remediation of PPCPs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biotechnology, Yogi Vemana University, Kadapa, India

    M. Srinivasulu

  2. Department of Microbiology, Yogi Vemana University, Kadapa, India

    M. Subhosh Chandra & P. Suresh Yadav

  3. Ciencia De la vida y Agricultura, Sede Santo Domingo, Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas – ESPE, Sangolquí, Ecuador

    G. Jaffer Mohiddin

  4. Department of Microbiology, Sri Krishnadevaraya University, Anantapuramu, India

    A. Madhavi

  5. Department of Food Technology, Vikrama Simhapuri University, Nellore, Andhra Pradesh, India

    B. Ramesh

  6. Department of Botany, Vikrama Simhapuri University PG Centre, Kavali, Andhra Pradesh, India

    S. Kameswaran

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  1. Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud and Instituto de Investigación, Universidad Técnica de Manabí, Portoviejo, Ecuador

    Naga Raju Maddela

  2. Instituto de Investigación and Facultad de Ingeniería Agronómica, Universidad Técnica de Manabí, Portoviejo, Ecuador

    Luz Cecilia García

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Srinivasulu, M. et al. (2021). Microbial Remediation of Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products. In: Maddela, N.R., García, L.C. (eds) Innovations in Biotechnology for a Sustainable Future. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-80108-3_14

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