Oxidative stress in Cyprinus carpio induced by hospital wastewater in Mexico Nadia Neri-Cruz • Leobardo Manuel Go ´mez-Oliva ´n • Marcela Galar-Martı ´nez • Marı ´a del Socorro Romero-Figueroa • Hariz Islas-Flores • Sandra Garcı ´a-Medina • Juan Manuel Jime ´nez-Vargas • Nely SanJuan-Reyes Accepted: 11 October 2014 / Published online: 22 October 2014 Ó Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014 Abstract The very wide range of activities performed in hospitals (care, diagnosis, hygiene, maintenance, research) require the use of a large variety of potentially ecotoxic substances such as surfactants, metals, disinfectants and pharmaceuticals. This study aimed to determine oxidative stress in the common carp Cyprinus carpio induced by hospital wastewater (HWW) in Mexico. The median lethal concentration (LC 50 ) and subsequently the lowest observed adverse effect level were determined. Carp were exposed to the latter value (0.5 %) for 24, 48, 72 and 96 h, and the following biomarkers were evaluated in gill, brain, liver and blood: hydroperoxide content (HPC), malondialdehyde (MDA) content, protein carbonyl content (PCC) and activity of the antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT). Significant increases in HPC, MDA content and PCC were observed in exposed speci- mens, particularly in gill, liver and brain. SOD and CAT activity also increased in liver and brain. In conclusion, this particular HWW induces oxidative stress on C. carpio, this damage being most evident in gill, liver and brain. Keywords Cyprinus carpio Á Hospital wastewater Á Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs Á Oxidative stress Introduction Water is essential for all living organisms and assessment of the factors that may be modifying its properties is therefore important. Among the current sources of pollu- tants entering the aquatic environment are effluents of municipal, industrial or hospital type. The wide range of activities performed in hospitals (care, diagnosis, hygiene, maintenance, research) require the use of a large variety of potentially ecotoxic substances such as surfactants, disinfectants and pharmaceuticals (Ku ¨mmerer 2001; Boillot et al. 2008). Once used or excreted by a patient, these compounds combine with hospital wastewater (HWW) (Langford and Thomas 2009) in stable or unstable, metabolized or non-metabolized forms, and then flow directly into the municipal wastewater network, generally without any prior treatment (Emmanuel et al. 2004). Also, wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are usually not equipped to eliminate the pollutants present in these effluents (Joss et al. 2005). In Mexico there is no legislation regarding the entry of emerging contaminants into water bodies, and WWTPs do not use effective methods to remove pharmaceutical pro- ducts. According to the National Water Commission N. Neri-Cruz Á L. M. Go ´mez-Oliva ´n (&) Á H. Islas-Flores Á N. SanJuan-Reyes Laboratorio de Toxicologı ´a Ambiental, Departamento de Farmacia, Facultad de Quı ´mica, Universidad Auto ´noma del Estado de Me ´xico, Paseo Colo ´n interseccio ´n Paseo Tollocan s/n. Col. Residencial Colo ´n, 50120 Toluca, Estado de Me ´xico, Mexico e-mail: lmgomezo@uaemex.mx; lgolivan74@gmail.com M. Galar-Martı ´nez Á S. Garcı ´a-Medina Laboratorio de Toxicologı ´a Acua ´tica, Departamento de Farmacia, Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biolo ´gicas, Instituto Polite ´cnico Nacional, Mexico City, Mexico M. del Socorro Romero-Figueroa Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Coordinacio ´n Delegacional de Investigacio ´n del Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Estado de Me ´xico Poniente, Morelos interseccio ´n Josefa Ortiz Col., Centro, Toluca, Estado de Me ´xico, Mexico J. M. Jime ´nez-Vargas Unidad de Farmacologı ´a Clı ´nica, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional Auto ´noma de Me ´xico, Mexico City, Mexico 123 Ecotoxicology (2015) 24:181–193 DOI 10.1007/s10646-014-1371-y