EVALUATION OF THE TOXICITY OF PSYCHOACTIVE COMPOUNDS WITH THE BATTERY OF BIOASSAYS

The toxicity of 14 psychoactive pharmaceuticals: antidepressants with two modes of action and antipsychotics were evaluated with the battery of six bioassays. Spirostomum ambiguum, Brachionus calyciflorus and Thamnocephalus platyurus were more sensitive to the tested drugs than Tetrahymena termophila, luminescent bacteria and the duckweed. In the first three tests the 24h-LC50's ranged from 0.3 to 4.0 mg 1(-1). In each test the toxicity data were homogenous within one order of magnitude except for the Microtox (R). N-demethylated derivatives norfluoxetine, desipramine, nortriptyline and norclomipramine were more toxic than the parent compounds. Toxicity of the tested drugs strongly depended on the pH of water. At pH 5.5 the toxicity of the drugs in Spirotox was 2-5 folds lower than the toxicity at pH of 7.2 and 8.0.