Slow-Release Pharmaceutical Implants in Ecotoxicology: Validating Functionality across Exposure Scenarios.

ABSTRACT: Pharmaceutical contaminants have spread in natural environments across the globe, endangering biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, and public health. Research on the environmental impacts of pharmaceuticals is growing rapidly, although a majority of studies are still conducted under controlled laboratory conditions. As such, there is an urgent need to understand the impacts of pharmaceutical exposures on wildlife in complex, real-world scenarios. Here, we validate the performance of slow-release pharmaceutical implants-a recently developed tool in field-based ecotoxicology that allows for the controlled chemical dosing of free-roaming aquatic species-in terms of the accumulation and distribution of pharmaceuticals of interest in tissues. Across two years, we directly exposed 256 Atlantic s

SUBMITTER: Bertram MG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11741056 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature