RESUMO
Local anaesthetics are among the most used drugs in clinical practice, but once they are released to the environment, the effects on the aquatic fauna remain uncertain. This study evaluates, for the first time, the impact of tetracaine, lidocaine and bupivacaine on the survival rate and physiological effects of cladocera Daphnia magna. Video-tracking and image processing allowed us to obtain changes in behaviour parameters like swimming average velocity and mean square displacement. We found that tetracaine shows the most severe effect. A high-speed microscopy system was also used to determine the response of D. magna heart to these drugs. Our results show that tetracaine presents dose-dependent area reduction during all cardiac cycle, while bupivacaine and lidocaine did not present significative effects on heart size. The tested drugs, at environmental high concentrations, altered behaviour, heart function and survival of D. magna.