Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Characterizing Metabolic Activity Of Fish Liver Microsomes Towards Fluoxetine In Four Fish Species Using Michaelis-Menten Enzyme Kinetics, Morgan Steiner

Honors College Theses

Discharge of pharmaceuticals into the environment is of emergent concern due to the unknown long-term effects on aquatic organisms. Wastewater treatment plants are not effective in completely removing pharmaceuticals, allowing them to be discharged into aquatic systems. To investigate the potential effects of fluoxetine, a common antidepressant, on aquatic species, the potential of four freshwater fish species to metabolize this drug was investigated. Livers from redbreast sunfish, bluegill, striped jumprock and bluehead chub were collected, homogenized, and centrifuged to collect the microsomes. These microsomes were used in an assay to determine the in vitro hepatic metabolism of fluoxetine by cytochrome …