Armando Barrera

Effects of Alcohol Polyethoxylate (AEO) surfactants

Source: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es501276g

The exposure to substantial concentrations of non-ionic surfactants or alcohol polyethoxylate (AEO) surfactants could result in serious health problems affecting a large number of fish.  These specific surfactants are usually found on domestic products or industrial products and it is probable that using large quantities of these substances can damage the environment.  A significant metabolic analysis was implemented to analyze further the effects of such exposure in juvenile sole, Solea senegalensis.  The research was examine further by using significant concentrations of hexaethylene glycol monododecylether (C₁₂EO₆), which had negative effects on the particular fish causing metabolite disruption in the liver.  In my personal opinion, one of the main solutions to eradicate the exposure to the surfactants is to diminish the use of industrial products that pollute the environment.  Another solution could be to find alternate substances to prevent the contamination of surfactants.  To conclude, this research provided substantial data on how to regulate the effects from the surfactant but can cause severe damage toward the environment such as causing health problems in the fish population.

References:

Diana Álvarez-Muñoz †‡, Raghad Al-Salhi †, Alaa Abdul-Sada †, Eduardo González-Mazo ‡, andElizabeth M. Hill *†. Global Metabolite Profiling Reveals Transformation Pathways and Novel Metabolomic Responses in Solea senegalensis after Exposure to a Non-ionic Surfactant. Environ. Sci. Technol., 2014, 48 (9), pp 5203–5210