Alterations of the physical-chemical properties of the oceans due to anthropogenic activities are, at present, one of the most concerning environmental issues studied by researchers. One of these issues is ocean acidification, mainly caused by overproduction and release of carbon dioxide (CO₂) from anthropogenic sources. Another component of environmental degradation is related to the production and release of potential toxic compounds, namely active pharmaceutical ingredients, into the aquatic environment that, combined with oceanic acidification, can cause unpredictable and never before considered deleterious effects on non-target marine organisms. Regarding this issue, the hereby study used predictions of future ocean acidification to simulate realistic scenarios of environmental exposure to a common therapeutic drug, salicylic acid (SA), in the marine gastropod Gibbula umbilicalis under different pH values. This species was exposed to a range of pH values (8.2, 7.9 and 7.6), and to already reported environmentally realistic concentrations (5, 25 and 125 μg/L) of SA. To evaluate the effects of these environmental stressors, key physiological biomarkers (GSTs, CAT, TBARS, AChE and COX) and shell hardness (SH) were quantified. Results from the present study showed that CAT and GSTs activities were enhanced by SA under water acidification; increased lipid peroxidation was also observed in organisms exposed to SA in more acidic media. In addition, the hereby study demonstrated the neurotoxic effects of SA through the inhibition of AChE. Effects were also observed in terms of COX activity, showing that SA absorption may be affected by water acidification. In terms of SH, the obtained data suggest that SA may alter the physical integrity of shells of exposed organisms. It is possible to conclude that the combination of seawater acidification and exposure to toxic xenobiotics (namely to the drug SA) may be strenuous to marine communities, making aquatic biota more susceptible to xenobiotics, and consequently endangering marine life in an unpredictable extent.

目前，由于人为活动引起的海洋物理化学性质的变化是研究人员研究的最相关的环境问题之一。这些问题之一是海洋酸化，这主要是由于二氧化碳（CO ₂）来自人为来源。环境退化的另一部分与潜在的有毒化合物（即活性药物成分）的产生和释放到水生环境中有关，再加上海洋酸化，可能对非目标海洋生物造成不可预测的危害，并且从未被认为具有有害作用。关于此问题，特此研究使用对未来海洋酸化的预测来模拟海洋腹足动物Gibbula umbilicalis对常见治疗药物水杨酸（SA）的环境暴露的现实情景。在不同的pH值。该物种暴露于一定范围的pH值（8.2、7.9和7.6），并且已经报告了SA的环境实际浓度（5、25和125μg/ L）。为了评估这些环境压力的影响，量化了关键的生理生物标记（GST，CAT，TBARS，AChE和COX）和壳硬度（SH）。本研究结果表明，水酸化后SA增强了CAT和GSTs的活性。在更酸性介质中暴露于SA的生物体中也观察到脂质过氧化增加。此外，特此研究证明了SA通过抑制AChE的神经毒性作用。还观察到了COX活性的影响，表明水的酸化可能会影响SA的吸收。就SH而言 获得的数据表明SA可能会改变暴露生物的壳的物理完整性。可以得出这样的结论：海水酸化和接触有毒异种生物（即药物SA）的结合可能对海洋社区造成极大的痛苦，使水生生物群落更易受到异种生物的影响，因此在不可预知的范围内危害海洋生物。