Bioaccumulation Exceedances by Pregnancy Contraindicated Neuropharmaceuticals during Development of Brown Trout in the Field

Though pharmaceuticals and their metabolites can bioaccumulate in aquatic organisms, bioconcentration and bioaccumulation dynamics across early life history stages, which include critical windows of development, are poorly understood, particularly under environmentally realistic field conditions. We examined the <i>in situ</i> bioconcentration of neuropharmaceuticals in brown trout (<i>Salmo trutta</i>) eggs and yolk sac fry (i.e., alevins) and then quantified the bioaccumulation of these contaminants of emerging concern in free swimming young-of-year (YOY) fish during a 238 day study of an effluent-impacted stream. Using liquid chromatography with high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry, we observed increasing tissue levels of donepezil, sertraline, norsertraline, citalopram, trazodone, telmisartan, and mirtazapine in eggs and yolk sac fry over time, followed by marked decreases in YOY fish. We identified exceedances of common bioaccumulation cutoff values (e.g., 500, 1000) used by regulatory agencies for donepezil, sertraline, norsertraline, and trazodone across each of these early life stages of brown trout. Our findings have important implications for routine bioaccumulation assessment practices, which commonly focus on older life stages of fish, and for managing aquatic exposures to neuroactive pharmaceuticals that are contraindicated in pregnant mothers due to potential risks of neurodevelopmental adverse outcomes.