Concentration and Residual Activity of Expired Gentamicins

Abstract

Medicines are currently considered emerging contaminants due to a deficiency in their final disposal and the lack of adequate treatments for their elimination in wastewater; This causes environmental damage by altering the physiology of microorganisms, plants and animals exposed to expired or improperly discarded medications; One of the groups of most interest for study are antibiotics because they can cause public health problems such as the generation of resistance by microorganisms. The objective of this work was to evaluate the residual and minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of gentamicin in expired drugs versus Escherichia coli and Bacillus clausii to estimate their ecopharmacological impact; To do this, the active ingredient was quantified using the ninhydrin technique and the MIC was determined using the well microdilution technique. The results show that after 120 months of expiration it is still possible to detect active ingredient (close to 50%) in the medications and that they retain significant antibiotic activity capable of affecting the environment (MIC from 8 to 512 g/mL). ; For this reason, it is important to promote health education that promotes correct final disposal of expired medications to avoid damage to public and environmental health.