Abstract
The increasing presence of fluoroquinolone (FQ) antibiotics in aquatic environments is a growing concern due to their widespread use, negatively impacting aquatic organisms. This paper provides an overview of the environmental distribution, sources, fate, and both single and mixed toxicity of FQ antibiotics in aquatic environments. It also examines the accumulation of FQ antibiotics in aquatic organisms and their transfer into the human body through the food chain. The study identifies critical factors such as metabolism characteristics, physiochemical characteristics, light, temperature, dissolved oxygen, and environmental compatibility that influence the presence of FQ antibiotics in aquatic environments. Mixed pollutants of FQ antibiotics pose significant risks to the ecological environment. Additionally, the paper critically discusses advanced treatment technologies designed to remove FQ antibiotics from wastewater, focusing on advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) and electrochemical advanced oxidation processes (EAOPs). The discussion also includes the benefits and limitations of these technologies in degrading FQ antibiotics in wastewater treatment plants. The paper concludes by proposing new approaches for regulating and controlling FQ antibiotics to aid in the development of ecological protection measures.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank all the authors for their assistance in analyzing the data.
Author contributions
Jia Du wrote the main manuscript and revised the manuscript; Wenfei Huang, Ying Pan, Shaodan Xu, Huanxuan Li coordinated the project; Qinghua Liu designed the project, and revised the manuscript. All contributing authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Data availability statement
All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.