Swimming activity in zebrafish larvae exposed to veterinary antiparasitic pharmaceuticals

Veterinary antiparasitic pharmaceuticals have been detected in surface waters and several of these pharmaceuticals act on the nervous system on the target organisms implying that neurological effects also might be of concern in non-target animals such as fish. We tested if exposure to antiparasitic pharmaceuticals affect swimming activity in 6 days old zebrafish larvae. The results revealed that most pharmaceuticals did not cause any effects in swimming activity. However, larvae exposed to 0.58 mg/L doramectin displayed reduced swimming activity even though they were classified as normal, having no morphological abnormalities.