After the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of quaternary ammonium compounds increased exponentially due to their efficacy as antimicrobials, stabilizers and disinfectants. Among these, Quaternium-15 is a preservative used in the formulation of a variety of personal care products. The increased use of this substance and the resulting persistence in wastewater treatment systems, which are unable to completely remove the Quaternium-15 from the water, is of increasing environmental concern. Using embryotoxicity analyses, this study aimed to investigate the effects of exposure to Quaternium-15 on non-target species and the resulting risks to the environment. Embryotoxicity endpoints such as mortality, hatching, presence of malformations, altered heartbeat and animal length were used to assess the effects on three model organisms (Cyprinus carpio, Danio rerio, Xenopus laevis) were evaluated during a 96-hour exposure to six different concentrations of Quaternium-15 (1, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 mg/L). The results obtained from the analyses highlighted: significant mortality for all three model organisms in the highest concentrations tested in which all the embryos died after 96 hpf, a delay in hatching of C. carpio and D. rerio compared to the control group, the insurgence of malformations in all the model organisms chosen and a significant decrease in heartbeat rate for the fish models. Each of these observations underlies the negative interaction between the Quaternium-15 and aquatic organisms making necessary further investigation to prevent damage to ecosystems and non-target species.

中文翻译：

---

合成防腐剂季铵盐 – 15 对三种模式生物的影响评估：对环境风险的新见解


在 COVID-19 大流行之后，季铵化合物的使用因其作为抗菌剂、稳定剂和消毒剂的功效而呈指数级增长。其中，季铵盐-15 是一种防腐剂，用于配制各种个人护理产品。这种物质的使用增加以及由此导致在废水处理系统中的持久性，无法从水中完全去除季铵盐-15，这越来越令人担忧环境问题。本研究使用胚胎毒性分析，旨在调查暴露于季铵盐-15 对非目标物种的影响以及由此产生的环境风险。胚胎毒性终点，如死亡率、孵化、是否存在畸形、心跳改变和动物体长，用于评估在暴露于六种不同浓度的季铵盐-15 （1、5、10、15、20 和 25 mg/L） 96 小时期间对三种模式生物 （Cyprinus carpio、Danio rerio、Xenopus laevis） 的影响。分析结果突出了：在测试的最高浓度下，所有三种模式生物的死亡率很高，其中所有胚胎在 96 hpf 后死亡，与对照组相比，C. carpio 和 D. rerio 的孵化延迟，所有选择的模式生物中畸形的叛乱以及鱼类模型的心跳率显着降低。这些观察结果中的每一个都为季铵盐 15 和水生生物之间的负面相互作用奠定了基础，因此有必要进行进一步调查，以防止对生态系统和非目标物种造成损害。