The evaluation of toxic effects in stressful environmental conditions can be determined through the imbalance between exogenous factors (environmental contaminants) and enzymatic and non-enzymatic defenses in biological systems. The use of fish for the identification of alterations in biochemical biomarkers provides a comprehensive vision of the effects that pharmaceutical products cause in the aquatic ecosystem, as they are organisms with high sensitivity to contaminants, filtering capacity, and potential for environmental toxicology studies. A wide range of pharmaceuticals can stimulate or alter a variety of biochemical mechanisms, such as oxidative damage to membrane lipids, proteins, and changes in antioxidant enzymes. This review includes a summary of knowledge of the last 20 years, in the understanding of the different biochemical biomarkers generated by exposure to pharmaceuticals in fish, which include different categories of pharmaceutical products: NSAIDs, analgesics, antibiotics, anticonvulsants, antidepressants, hormones, lipid regulators and mixtures. This review serves as a tool in the design of studies for the evaluation of the effects of pharmaceutical products, taking into account the most useful biomarkers, type of matrix, enzyme alterations, all taking the pharmaceutical group of interest.
Keywords: Alterations; Biochemical biomarkers; Fish; Pharmaceutical products.
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