Psychotropic drugs in drinking water cause autism

Residues of psychotropic drugs in drinking water triggers autism?

07/06/2012

Impurities of drinking water with psychotropic drugs can trigger autism. This is the finding of US researchers led by Michael Thomas of the Institute of Biological Sciences at Idaho State University School in a comprehensive study of fish.

The number of autism diseases has increased in the past 25 years, due to increased genetic susceptibility in interaction with previously largely unknown environmental triggers, the US scientists in the journal „PLoS ONE“. Michael Thomas and colleagues have now identified the contamination of drinking water with psychotropic drugs as one of the possible causes.

Antidepressants already known as triggers of autism
It has long been known that the use of antidepressants in pregnancy can trigger autism in the offspring. The US researchers have now pursued the question in their study, whether this also applies to the psychopharmaceutical concentrations in drinking water. especially the „selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs)“ are suspected as autism triggers, report the US researchers. When „Source of exposure to antidepressants“ were there too „Raw sewage, sewage from sewage treatment sewerage systems, rivers downstream of such facilities, and ultimately drinking water“ named, the US scientists report. Because the concentrations are so low, the health consequences have remained controversial so far, according to Michael Thomas and colleagues.

In order to determine the possible association between the psychopharmaceutical concentration in drinking water and the risk of autism, the researchers therefore carried out a study on juvenile fish (minnows), in which two antidepressants (fluoxetine, venlafaxine) and an antiepileptic (carbamazepine) was added. The concentrations of the psychotropic drugs corresponded to the „highest conservative estimates of environmental concentrations“, the US researchers continue.

Fish are exposed to psychoactive medicines
According to Michael Thomas and colleagues, the young minnows are particularly suitable as test organisms, as their genetic expression for autism and other neurological disorders resemble those of pre-stressed humans. Over 18 days, five fish each in three pools with about 7.5 liters of water were exposed to the psychotropic drugs. Three further pools, each with five fish and unloaded water served as a control group. The dosage of the three different psychotropic drugs added to the water was 10 to 100 micrograms per liter. After a trial period of 18 days, the researchers studied the minnows' gene expression pattern, noting numerous abnormalities in the gene segments associated with diseases such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, schizophrenia, multiple sclerosis, depression, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The mixture of „three psychoactive drugs (fluoxetine, venlafaxine and carbamazepine) in dosages similar to the highest conservative estimates of environmental concentrations“, have caused gene expression in the fish, which are typical of autism, the US scientists report.

Health risk due to residues of medicines in drinking water
It was astonishing that even relatively small residues of psychotropic drugs in drinking water would have favored the genetic changes, according to Michael Thomas and colleagues. „We were amazed that these remedies can trigger autism in very low dosages, such as those found in water“, write the US scientists in the „PLoS ONE“-Items. The fact that psychopharmaceuticals have been so severely diluted in fish has caused such considerable changes is indeed cause for concern. Because this suggests the conclusion that the usual residues of drugs in drinking water could lead to comparable adverse effects. Although the drinking water levels of psychotropic drugs are usually ten to a hundred times lower than the concentrations in the experimental series, the study results suggest that a new potential trigger for autism has been discovered in genetically susceptible individuals, Thomas and colleagues emphasized. The psychopharmaceutical residues in drinking water are to be evaluated as environmental factors, which promote the occurrence of autism.

Further studies on environmental triggers of autism required
According to Michael Thomas, the change in gene expression observed in the minnows can definitely be transferred to humans, since the genes involved are the same as in persons with a hereditary autism predisposition. On the basis of the current study results, however, no statement can be made concerning the risk of disease of persons without appropriate predisposition. This would need further investigation in further studies, similar to the risk of autism at lower dosages of psychotropic drugs. According to the US researchers, the degradation products of the drugs should also be taken into account in future investigations, since these might also increase the risk of autism. The same applies to psychotropic drugs, which were previously not considered in the investigation. In the next step, the US scientists offer experiments with mice as well as epidemiological studies to review the results so far. (Fp)

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Picture: Paul Golla