Waterborne psychoactive drugs impair the initial development of Zebrafish

The contamination of rivers and other natural water bodies, including underground waters, is a current reality. Human occupation and some economic activities generate a wide range of contaminated effluents that reach these water resources, including psychotropic drug residues. Here we show that fluoxetine, diazepam and risperidone affected the initial development of zebrafish. All drugs increased mortality rate and heart frequency and decreased larvae length. In addition, risperidone and fluoxetine decreased egg hatching. The overall results points to a strong potential of these drugs to cause a negative impact on zebrafish initial development and, since the larvae viability was reduced, promote adverse effects at the population level. We hypothesized that eggs and larvae absorbed the drugs that exert its effects in the central nervous system. These effects on early development may have significant environmental implications.