Emerging contaminants in Colombian water sources and their oncological risk: A QSAR modeling approach

Giovanny  Jurado-Gamez; Patricia Eugenia  Velez-Varela; Vanessa  Jurado-Davila

doi:10.59400/jts3197

Emerging contaminants in Colombian water sources and their oncological risk: A QSAR modeling approach

Giovanny Jurado-Gamez Molecular Biology, Environment and Cancer Group, Department of Biology, University of Cauca, Popayán 190003, Colombia
Patricia Eugenia Velez-Varela Molecular Biology, Environment and Cancer Group, Department of Biology, University of Cauca, Popayán 190003, Colombia
Vanessa Jurado-Davila Physikalische Chemie, TUM School of Natural Sciences, Technische Universität München, Lichtenbergstraße 4, 85748 Garching, Germany

Article ID: 3197

DOI: https://doi.org/10.59400/jts3197

Keywords: emerging contaminants; QSAR; water sources; pharmaceutical compounds; diseases

Abstract

This study investigates the presence and potential oncogenic risks of pharmaceuticals as emerging contaminants in aquatic environments in Colombia. These substances enter ecosystems primarily through human and veterinary use, and are discharged via sewage and wastewater systems. A selection of pharmaceuticals found at high concentrations in effluents across different Colombian regions was identified based on a comprehensive review of indexed scientific literature. To assess their potential health impact, a Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship (QSAR) approach was applied to predict the toxicological behavior of each compound based on its molecular structure. The findings indicate that while many parent pharmaceuticals show relatively low carcinogenic potential, several degradation products and metabolites exhibit structural features linked to carcinogenicity. Functional groups such as nitrosamines, phenols, and epoxides—known for their genotoxic effects—were identified in some metabolites, suggesting they may damage DNA, induce mutations, and promote cancer development. These results emphasize the importance of considering both parent compounds and their transformation products in environmental health risk assessments. Long-term exposure to such contaminants may represent a significant oncological risk, reinforcing the need for stricter monitoring and predictive toxicology models like QSAR to support environmental and public health policies.

Published

2025-07-29

How to Cite

Jurado-Gamez, G., Velez-Varela, P. E., & Jurado-Davila, V. (2025). Emerging contaminants in Colombian water sources and their oncological risk: A QSAR modeling approach. Journal of Toxicological Studies, 3(2), 3197. https://doi.org/10.59400/jts3197

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Vol. 3 No. 2 (2025)

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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Insecticides represent the most used control method against the insect pests of stored food products. But there are strains of insects which are resistant to these insecticides: it is the case of the beetle of the chickpea Callosobruchus maculatus . The present study has for objective the evaluation of the biological activity of chitinolytic enzymes extracted from the fish offals Scorpaena scrofa (scorpion fish) on this beetle at different doses (3%, 6%, 9%, 12%, 15% and 21%) prepared with the buffer solution. The results obtained from three treatments (T 1 , T 2 and T 3 ) realized according to the dose of the crude enzyme and the time of exposure were compared with those of the controls and have showed a very significant efficiency of our crude enzyme on the reduction of the fertility rate of 100% by treating the couple (T 1 ) at the same time as to treat the male (T 3 ) and the female (T 2 ) separately with the strongest dose (21%) for 48 h of exposure. It would be thus desirable to demonstrate the activity of these enzymes in the real conditions of storage.

Na + -K + -ATPase is a membrane bound enzyme responsible for the transport of ions through the membrane and immediate release of energy. This enzyme is known to be an early target for oxygen radical induced damage to intact cell. Exposure of C. punctatus to subacute concentrations of lindane for 96 h caused significant reduction in the activities of Na + -K + -ATPase in all the tissues of the fish tested; brain being maximally affected and the heart being least affected organ at the highest concentration of lindane (0.1 mg/L). The effect of pesticide was concentration dependent. The percent decrease in the activity of Na + -K + -ATPase in brain, gills, heart, kidney, liver and muscle was found to be 36.7, 23.4, 19.2, 29, 22.9 and 29.7, respectively. The order of level of enzyme activity recorded was as following: liver > gills > kidney > brain > muscle > heart in the control.

Due to the ubiquitous occurrence in the aquatic environment and terrestrial ecosystem and underlying eco-environmental risks, nano/microplastics (NPs/MPs) have sparked great public concerns. The purpose of this work is aimed to summarize the harmful influence of NPs/MPs on reproduction and offspring health and further explore the potential mechanisms of action, thereby facilitating the more comprehensive understanding of NPs/MPs features. Literature search databases included EMBASE, Web of Science, and PubMed. The study selection and data extraction were implemented according to the inclusion criteria. NPs/MPs could accumulate and trigger reproductive toxic responses and thereafter generate deleterious effects on the offspring health. Accordingly, the reproductive toxicity of NPs/MPs was characterized as the sperm deformity, decline in sperm count and motility, follicular growth tardiness, ovarian fibrosis, granulosa cell death, disorder of reproductive hormone secretion, as well as the fetal growth restriction, glycolipid metabolism disorder, and inflammatory responses of the next generation. Additionally, mechanism research revealed that NPs/MPs exposure brought about inflammatory responses and oxidative stress and thereafter, destroyed the blood-testis barrier (BTB) integrity, motivated spermatogenic cell apoptosis by activating the JNK and p38/MAPK-Nrf2/NF-κB pathways, and induced ovarian granulosa cell pyroptosis and apoptosis and subsequent ovarian fibrosis via the Wnt/β-Catenin and NLRP3/Caspase-1 pathways. Nevertheless, this work also highlighted the imperative requirements for scientific and systematic risk assessments of NPs/MPs, so as to identify the feasible risk mitigation strategies.