The growing consumption of antidepressant pharmaceuticals has resulted in their widespread occurrence in the environment, particularly in waterways with a typical concentration range from ng L-1 to μg L-1. An increasing number of studies have confirmed the ecotoxic potency of antidepressants, not only at high concentrations but also at environmentally relevant levels. The present review covers literature from the last decade on the individual-level ecotoxicological effects of the most commonly used antidepressants, including their impact on behavior, growth, and survival. We focus on the relationship between antidepressants physico-chemical properties and dynamics in the environment. Furthermore, we discuss the advantages of considering behavioral changes as sensitive endpoints in ecotoxicology, as well as some current methodological shortcomings in the field, including low standardization, reproducibility and context-dependency.
Keywords: Antidepressants; Behavioral assay; Ecotoxicity; Fluoxetine; Sertraline.
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