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Combined effects of binary antibiotic mixture on growth, microcystin production, and extracellular release of Microcystis aeruginosa: application of response surface methodology

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Abstract

The interactive effects of binary antibiotic mixtures of spiramycin (SP) and ampicillin (AMP) on Microcystis aeruginosa (MA) in terms of growth as well as microcystin production and extracellular release were investigated through the response surface methodology (RSM). SP with higher 50 and 5% effective concentrations in MA growth was more toxic to MA than AMP. RSM model for toxic unit approach suggested that the combined toxicity of SP and AMP varied from synergism to antagonism with SP/AMP mixture ratio decreasing from reversed equitoxic ratio (5:1) to equitoxic ratio (1:5). Deviations from the prediction of concentration addition (CA) and independent action (IA) model further indicated that combined toxicity of target antibiotics mixed in equivalent ratio (1:1) varied from synergism to antagonism with increasing total dose of SP and AMP. With the increase of SP/AMP mixture ratio, combined effect of mixed antibiotics on MA growth changed from stimulation to inhibition due to the variation of the combined toxicity and the increasing proportion of higher toxic component (SP) in the mixture. The mixture of target antibiotics at their environmentally relevant concentrations with increased total dose and SP/AMP mixture ratio stimulated intracellular microcystin synthesis and facilitated MA cell lysis, thus leading to the increase of microcystin productivity and extracellular release.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to all anonymous editors and reviewers for providing comments on this paper. We also appreciate the generous financial support of this work provided by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2017YFC0404501), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51609144), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK20160143), and the Water Resource Science & Technology Project of Jiangsu Province (2015005 and 2016030).

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  1. Center for Eco-Environmental Research, Nanjing Hydraulic Research Institute, Nanjing, 210029, People’s Republic of China

    Zhiyuan Wang, Qiuwen Chen, Liuming Hu & Min Wang

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  1. Zhiyuan Wang
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  2. Qiuwen Chen
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  3. Liuming Hu
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  4. Min Wang
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Correspondence to Zhiyuan Wang.

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Responsible editor: Vitor Manuel Oliveira Vasconcelos

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Wang, Z., Chen, Q., Hu, L. et al. Combined effects of binary antibiotic mixture on growth, microcystin production, and extracellular release of Microcystis aeruginosa: application of response surface methodology. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25, 736–748 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-0475-3

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