The effect of environmental and therapeutic concentrations of antibiotics on nitrate reduction rates in river sediment

•We studied the effect of antibiotics on river sediment nitrogen transformations.•Environmental antibiotic concentrations did not affect nitrate reduction rates.•Nitrate reduction rates were lowered by therapeutic antibiotic concentrations.•Presence of antibiotics enhanced nitrite production.

The use of antibiotics in both human and veterinary medicine has led to increased presence of these compounds and antibiotic resistance in the environment. In this study, the effect of low, environmentally relevant (mg L−1) concentrations of vancomycin (VA), flumequine (FLU), and sulfamethoxazole (SMX) on nitrate reduction rates was studied in river sediments. Nitrate reduction rates were determined by supplying intact sediments for several weeks with both nitrate and antibiotics (ng L−1, μg L−1, and mg L−1 concentrations), including a non-amended control. Furthermore the concentrations of the three investigated antibiotics were measured in the initial (natural) sediments and the sediments supplied with the antibiotics. The antibiotic concentrations in the sediments decreased (on average 62% for FLU and 93% for SMX) during the experiments, indicating loss of antibiotics due to sorption or (bio) degradation. Nitrate reduction rates were not affected by environmental concentrations of VA, FLU and SMX. FLU and SMX only partially inhibited nitrate reduction rates at high, therapeutic concentrations by 41 and 39% respectively. The three tested antibiotics significantly enhanced the production of nitrite, an intermediate in dissimilatory nitrate reduction. Nitrite production increased 1.9 and 1.4 fold for environmental VA concentrations (107 and 187 μg L−1 respectively), application of 58 mg L−1 SMX resulted in a 7.5 fold increase and augmented 16 and 8.5 fold in the presence of respectively 13 μg L−1 and 52 mg L−1 FLU. Even though inhibition of nitrate reduction rates was observed at therapeutic antibiotic concentrations, nitrate reduction proceeded under all experimental conditions, indicating the presence of resistance toward these antibiotics among the nitrate reducing bacteria. The accumulation of nitrite suggests that the nitrite reduction step was more affected than the overall nitrate reduction process.