Assessing microplastics-antibiotics coexistence induced ciprofloxacin-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa at a water region scale

Wei-Min Wang; Tien-Hsuan Lu; Chi-Yun Chen; Chung-Min Liao

doi:10.1016/j.watres.2024.121721

Assessing microplastics-antibiotics coexistence induced ciprofloxacin-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa at a water region scale

Water Res. 2024 May 7:257:121721. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2024.121721. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Wei-Min Wang¹, Tien-Hsuan Lu², Chi-Yun Chen³, Chung-Min Liao⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Bioenvironmental Systems Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan 106319, China.
² Department of Science Education and Application, National Taichung University of Education, Taichung 403514, China.
³ Department of Environmental and Global Health, College of Public Health and Health Professions, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610, United States; Center for Environmental and Human Toxicology, University of Florida, FL 32608, United States.
⁴ Department of Bioenvironmental Systems Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan 106319, China. Electronic address: cmliao@ntu.edu.tw.

PMID: 38728782
DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2024.121721

Abstract

Microplastics (MPs) waste is widespread globally in water systems. The opportunistic human pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa can cause serious acute and chronic infections that are notoriously difficult to treat. Ciprofloxacin (CIP) is broadly applied as an anti-P. aeruginosa drug. A growing evidence reveals that antibiotic-resistance genes-carrying Pseudomonas aeruginosa were detected on MPs forming plastisphere due to their adsorbability along with high occurrence of CIP in water environments. The MPs-niched CIP-resistant P. aeruginosa has been likely to emerge as an unignorable public health issue. Here, we offered a novel approach to assess the development of CIP-resistant P. aeruginosa under MPs-antibiotic coexistence at a water region scale. By combing the adsorption isotherm models used to estimate CIP condensation around MPs and a pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic-based microbial population dynamic model, we predicted the P. aeruginosa development on CIP-adsorbed MPs in waters. Our assessment revealed a high antibiotic resistance in the P. aeruginosa populations (∼50 %) with a wider range of waterborne total cell counts (∼10^-2-10⁴ cfu mL^-1) among water regions in that the resistance proportion was primarily determined by CIP pollution level and relative abundance of various polymer type of MPs. We implicate that water region-specific MPs were highly likely to provide media for P. aeruginosa propagation. Our results highlight the importance of antibiotic-resistant pathogen colonization-emerging environmental medium interactions when addressing global threat from MPs pollution, in the context of MPs-antibiotics co-contamination assessment and for the continued provision of water system management.

Keywords: Antibiotic resistance; Ciprofloxacin; Microplastics; Pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic model; Pseudomonas aeruginosa; Water region.