Indigenously developed CuO/TiO2 coated ceramic ultrafiltration membrane for removal of emerging contaminants like phthalates and parabens: Toxicity evaluation in PA-1 cell line

Emerging contaminants like phthalates and parabens in pharmaceuticals and personal care products pose threat to humans and environment because they are endocrine disruptors and are persistent in nature. Removal of these contaminants by conventional treatment methods has proven less effective in removing emerging contaminants. Ceramic ultrafiltration (UF) membrane developed indigenously from CuO/TiO2 nanoparticles effectively removed phthalates and parabens from synthetic systems (10-1000 ppb concentration) with removal efficiency of >99%. FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy) analysis suggested surface adsorption of phthalate and paraben on UF membrane. The effect of different parameters, viz. Transmembrane pressure (TMP), time, feed concentration on membrane filtration efficiency, was calculated by response surface methodology (RSM). Cytotoxic effects of untreated and membrane treated phthalate and paraben solutions were observed on ovarian teratocarcinoma (PA-1) cell lines. Cytotoxicity was evaluated by cell toxicity and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation in culture PA-1 cells. Results showed that concentration IC50 (half maximal inhibitory concentration) values for phthalate untreated and treated samples were 54.9 mu g/ml and 183.23 mu g/ml respectively while for paraben untreated and treated samples were 16.8 mu g/ml and 107.6 mu g/ml respectively.

Automated summary

The study indicates that emerging contaminants such as phthalates and parabens pose potential threats to humans and the environment, but using domestically developed CuO/TiO2 nanoparticle ceramic ultrafiltration membrane can effectively remove these pollutants. It was also found that untreated and membrane treated phthalates and parabens exhibit cytotoxic effects on ovarian teratocarcinoma cells.