Research progress on environmental behaviors and ecotoxicity of tetracycline antibiotics

Tetracycline antibiotics (TCs) are among the most widely used antibiotics in the world. They are hardly absorbable by organisms, and resistant to biodegradation in the environment, thus being difficult to remove in conventional wastewater treatment systems, and posing serious threats to ecosystems and human health. The sources and pollution occurrence of TCs in the environment were reviewed, their transfer, transformation and degradation were described, and their ecological and bio-toxic effects were summarized. Finally, the ecological risks of these pollutants and the prospects of future research were proposed. It was suggested that the environmental behaviors of TCs should be assessed at the multi-media environmental levels. More studies should be conducted on their ecotoxic mechanisms and their joint toxic effects with other environmental pollutants.