New psychoactive substances in several European populations assessed by wastewater-based epidemiology

Sara Castiglioni; Noelia Salgueiro-González; Lubertus Bijlsma; Alberto Celma; Emma Gracia-Lor; Mihail Simion Beldean-Galea; Tomáš Mackuľak; Erik Emke; Ester Heath; Barbara Kasprzyk-Hordern; Andjelka Petkovic; Francesco Poretti; Jeliaz Rangelov; Miguel M. Santos; Maja Sremački; Katarzyna Styszko; Felix Hernández; Ettore Zuccato

doi:10.1016/j.watres.2021.116983

New psychoactive substances in several European populations assessed by wastewater-based epidemiology

Sara Castiglioni
, Noelia Salgueiro-González
, Lubertus Bijlsma
, Alberto Celma
, Emma Gracia-Lor
, Mihail Simion Beldean-Galea
, Tomáš Mackuľak
, Erik Emke
, Ester Heath
, Barbara Kasprzyk-Hordern
, Andjelka Petkovic
, Francesco Poretti
, Jeliaz Rangelov
, Miguel M. Santos
, Maja Sremački
, Katarzyna Styszko
, Felix Hernández
, Ettore Zuccato

IRCCS Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri
Universitat Jaume I
Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Babeş-Bolyai University
Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava
KWR Water Research Institute
Institut "Jozef Stefan"
Jaroslav Cerni Water Institute
Consorzio Depurazione Acque Lugano e Dintorni
Sofiyska Voda AD part of Veolia
Universidade do Porto
University of Novi Sad
AGH University of Science and Technology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

80 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) can be a useful tool to face some of the existing challenges in monitoring the use of new psychoactive substances (NPS), as it can provide objective and updated information. This Europe-wide study aimed to verify the suitability of WBE for investigating the use of NPS. Selected NPS were monitored in urban wastewater by high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS). The main classical illicit drugs were monitored in the same samples to compare their levels with those of NPS. Raw composite wastewater samples were collected in 2016 and 2017 in 14 European countries (22 cities) following best practice sampling protocols. Methcathinone was most frequent (>65% of the cities), followed by mephedrone (>25% of the cities), and only mephedrone, methcathinone and methylone were found in both years. This study depicts the use of NPS in Europe, confirming that it is much lower than the use of classical drugs. WBE proved able to assess the qualitative and quantitative spatial and temporal profiles of NPS use. The results show the changeable nature of the NPS market and the importance of large WBE monitoring campaigns for selected priority NPS. WBE is valuable for complementing epidemiological studies to follow rapidly changing profiles of use of drugs.

Original language	English
Article number	116983
Journal	Water Research
Volume	195
Early online date	27 Feb 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2021.116983
Publication status	Published - 1 May 2021

Funding

Lubertus Bijlsma wishes to thank Ettore Zuccato, Sara Castiglioni and the Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri (Milan, Italy) for hosting him as a post-doc researcher. Alberto Celma acknowledges the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness for his predoctoral grant (BES-2016-076914). Flix Hernndez acknowledges MINECO (Project CTQ2015-65603-P), as well as Generalitat Valenciana (Research Group of Excellence, Prometeo 2019/040). The collecting of samples in Krakow was supported by ??Municipal Waterworks and Sewer Enterprise in Krakow??. We greatly acknowledge Igor Bod?k, Slovak University of Technology, Bratislava, Slovakia; Fiona Regan Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland; Jaroslav Slobodnik and Natalia Glowacka, Environmental Institute of Kos, Slovak Republic; Mariya Skobley, Ukraine, for the help provided for samples collection. Wessex Water is acknowledged for samples provision in the UK. This work was supported by the European Commission [grant HOME/2014/JDRUG/AG/DRUG/7086 - NPS-Euronet]. This research was partially funded by the AGH UST grant 16.16.210.476 subsidy of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education.

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities

Keywords

Europe
monitoring
new psychoactive substances
spatial and temporal trends
Urban wastewater
use profiles

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Ecological Modelling
Water Science and Technology
Waste Management and Disposal
Pollution

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10.1016/j.watres.2021.116983

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Castiglioni, S., Salgueiro-González, N., Bijlsma, L., Celma, A., Gracia-Lor, E., Beldean-Galea, M. S., Mackuľak, T., Emke, E., Heath, E., Kasprzyk-Hordern, B., Petkovic, A., Poretti, F., Rangelov, J., Santos, M. M., Sremački, M., Styszko, K., Hernández, F., & Zuccato, E. (2021). New psychoactive substances in several European populations assessed by wastewater-based epidemiology. Water Research, 195, Article 116983. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2021.116983

Castiglioni, S, Salgueiro-González, N, Bijlsma, L, Celma, A, Gracia-Lor, E, Beldean-Galea, MS, Mackuľak, T, Emke, E, Heath, E, Kasprzyk-Hordern, B, Petkovic, A, Poretti, F, Rangelov, J, Santos, MM, Sremački, M, Styszko, K, Hernández, F & Zuccato, E 2021, 'New psychoactive substances in several European populations assessed by wastewater-based epidemiology', Water Research, vol. 195, 116983. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2021.116983

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ER -

New psychoactive substances in several European populations assessed by wastewater-based epidemiology

Abstract

Funding

UN SDGs

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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