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Abstract
Eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica) support a large aquaculture industry and are a keystone species along the Atlantic seaboard. Native oysters are routinely exposed to a complex mixture of contaminants that increasingly includes pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), which are designed to exert pharmacological effects at low concentrations. The biological effects of these exposures on oyster physiology is poorly understood, as there is a lack of data about the temporal and spatial variability in PPCPs bioaccumulation in Georgias estuaries and how environmental stressors affects oyster physiology. A laboratory experiment was conducted to quantify the physiological responses of oysters exposed to fluoxetine, N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide, 17-ethynylestradiol, diphenhydramine, and their mixture for ten days, followed by an eight-day depuration. Exposures elicited effects based upon each chemicals postulated mechanism-of-action, as well as off-target effects. Affected metabolites were associated with Krebs cycle intermediates, fatty acids, carbohydrates, amino acid metabolism, and the urea cycle. Metabolic effects varied at each sample point, and that overall,oysters were only able to partially recover from these exposures post-depuration. A two-year field study was conducted to determine temporal, spatial and bioaccumulation trends for 16 PPCPs in native oysters near Brunswick and Sapelo Island, Georgia. Across all samples, concentrations ranged from