Pharmaceutical and Microplastic Toxicity in Procambarus clarkii: A Critical Review of Biomarker Responses, Methodological Challenges, and Future Perspectives.

Authors

Aida Bradauskaitė, Živilė Jurgelėnė, Giuseppe Sireti, Mahdi Banaee, Francesca Falco

Published in

Environmental research. Pages 126148. Nov 10, 2026. Epub Nov 10, 2026.

Abstract

The toxicity of emerging contaminants has been extensively investigated and reviewed in a wide range of aquatic organisms, but comprehensive evaluations in crayfish remain limited. Procambarus clarkii is a freshwater crayfish increasingly used in aquatic toxicology research, particularly in studies investigating pharmaceuticals and microplastics. This review evaluates the suitability of P. clarkii as a test organism for toxicity assessment of selected emerging contaminants and synthesizes the available evidence on its biochemical, immunological, molecular, and histopathological responses following exposure to pharmaceuticals and microplastics. A structured literature search conducted through May 2026 identified 24 eligible peer-reviewed research articles. The available evidence indicates that oxidative stress, immune regulation, and hepatopancreatic pathology are among the most consistently affected biological processes, although the direction and magnitude of many biomarker responses varied across contaminants and exposure conditions. Among the evaluated endpoints, reduced total hemocyte count emerged as the most consistent response and was reported in all reviewed studies assessing this measure, suggesting immune disturbance. The review also discusses methodological heterogeneity and identifies important knowledge gaps, including limited data on pharmaceutical bioaccumulation and microplastic uptake and retention, limited evidence on biomarker and transcriptional recovery following contaminant removal, and limited information on quantitative toxicity thresholds. Addressing these knowledge gaps will strengthen the application of P. clarkii as a test organism in pharmaceutical and microplastic toxicity assessment in freshwater ecosystems.

PMID:
43008917
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 11 Nov 2026.

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