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Cytotoxic effects of seven Tunisian hospital wastewaters on the proliferation of human breast cancer cell line MDA-231: correlation with their chemical characterization

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Abstract

Hospital wastewaters contain large amounts of pharmaceutical residues, which may eventually be discharged into the aquatic environment through wastewater treatment plants, raising the question of their impact on human and environmental health. This has prompted the launch of several monitoring studies into the most commonly administered compounds in urban wastewater. The aim of this study was, therefore, to explore the cytotoxic potential of wastewaters samples collected from seven hospitals in Tunisia. The physicochemical analyses showed a large fluctuation of certain parameters in the collected samples, such as chemical oxygen demand (ranged from 860 to 1720 mg L−1), biochemical oxygen demand (ranged from 385 to 747 mg L−1), total organic carbon (ranged from 256 to 562 g L−1), total suspended solids (ranged from 905 to 1450 mg L−1), conductivity (ranged from 3.31 to 7.14 μsm/cm), and turbidity (ranged from 100 to 480 NTU). The analysis using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) also showed that hospital wastewater contains high concentrations of Hg (ranged from 0.0024 to 0.019 mg L−1). This could be explained by the variation of the activity and the services in certain hospitals compared to others. All hospital wastewater samples induced the proliferation of human breast cancer cell line MDA-231, even at low concentrations (20 μL/assay). Moreover, the maximum induction reached at the concentration of 60 μL/assay in wastewater samples from hospitals located in Monastir, Sidi Bouzid, Mahdia, and Sfax with percentages of induction up to 42.33, 14, 7.61, and 5.42%, respectively. These observations could be due to the presence of endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) in these wastewaters. Given this, our results evidenced the potential risk of these hospital effluents to environmental and public health.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Unit of Analysis and Process Applied to the Environmental–APAE (UR17ES32) Higher Institute of Applied Sciences and Technology Mahdia, University of Monastir, Monastir, Tunisia

    Emna Nasri, Monia Machreki, Asma Beltifa, Sonia Aroui, Amina Saad & Hedi Ben Mansour

  2. Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA), Scientific and Technological Park of the University of Girona, Girona, Spain

    Emna Nasri & José Luis Balcázar

  3. Hygiene Laboratory/Toxicology Unit Hedi CHAKER Hospital, Sfax, Tunisia

    Asma Ghorbel

  4. Unité de Biochimie Macromoléculaire et Génétique, Faculté des Sciences de Gafsa, Cité Zarroug, 2112, Gafsa, Tunisia

    Anouar Feriani, Mohamed Ali Borgi & Lakhdar Ghazouani

  5. Université Bretagne Sud, FRE CNRS 3744, IRDL, 56017, Vannes, France

    Olivier Sire

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  1. Emna Nasri
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  2. Monia Machreki
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Correspondence to Hedi Ben Mansour.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

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Nasri, E., Machreki, M., Beltifa, A. et al. Cytotoxic effects of seven Tunisian hospital wastewaters on the proliferation of human breast cancer cell line MDA-231: correlation with their chemical characterization. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24, 20422–20428 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-9717-7

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