Effect of transpiration on plant accumulation and translocation of PPCP/EDCs

Abstract

The reuse of treated wastewater for agricultural irrigation in arid and hot climates where plant transpiration is high may affect plant accumulation of pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) and endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). In this study, carrot, lettuce, and tomato plants were grown in solution containing 16 PPCP/EDCs in either a cool-humid or a warm-dry environment. Leaf bioconcentration factors (BCF) were positively correlated with transpiration for chemical groups of different ionized states (p < 0.05). However, root BCFs were correlated with transpiration only for neutral PPCP/EDCs (p < 0.05). Neutral and cationic PPCP/EDCs showed similar accumulation, while anionic PPCP/EDCs had significantly higher accumulation in roots and significantly lower accumulation in leaves (p < 0.05). Results show that plant transpiration may play a significant role in the uptake and translocation of PPCP/EDCs, which may have a pronounced effect in arid and hot climates where irrigation with treated wastewater is common.

Insight into the distribution of pharmaceuticals in soil-water-plant systems

“…The transpiration stream is considered as the main driving force for uptake and transport of pharmaceuticals from soil to plants (Dodgen et al, 2015). In this study, the three common soil water contents (75, 60 and 45 % of MWHC) did not have an apparent impact on the accumulation of pharmaceuticals in the radish tissues.…”

Plant uptake of pharmaceutical and personal care products from recycled water and biosolids: a review

“…As an example, an overall low root accumulation of acidic PPCPs, including naproxen, diclofenac, atorvastatin, gemfibrozil, and ibuprofen, was observed in a hydroponic study . However, an opposite phenomenon was observed by Dodgen et al (2015), who found that these acidic PPCPs were accumulated significantly more than basic or neutral PPCPs in plant roots. (Boxall et al, 2006;Calderón-Preciado et al, 2011;Carter et al, 2014;Eggen et al, 2011;Holling et al, 2012;Hu et al, 2010;Pan et al, 2014;Prosser et al, 2014a;Shenker et al, 2011;Wu et al, 2010;Wu et al, 2012b).…”

“…A number of studies have been performed under hydroponic conditions to evaluate the bioaccumulation potentials of PPCPs in plants and explore uptake mechanisms under simplified conditions (Bartha et al, 2010;Calderón-Preciado et al, 2012;Dodgen et al, 2013Dodgen et al, , 2015Herklotz et al, 2010;Redshaw et al, 2008;Shenker et al, 2011;Tanoue et al, 2012;Wu et al, 2013). The extent of PPCP uptake by plants is usually evaluated using bioconcentration factor (BCF), which is the ratio of the analyte concentration detected in the plant tissue to the spiked concentration in the growth medium.…”

“…Tanoue et al (2012) reported that pharmaceuticals with an intermediate polarity (log D ow between 0.5 and 3) could be easily transported to plant shoots. Dodgen et al (2015) studied the effect of transpiration on plant accumulation and translocation of acidic, basic and neutral PPCPs. They found that for basic and neutral PPCPs, a significant positive correlation was observed between translocation factor values and the transpired masses, while no such relationship was observed for acidic PPCPs, suggesting that translocation of basic and neutral PPCPs from root to leaves was influenced by transpiration.…”

“…The driving mechanism for uptake and transport of PPCPs within the plant is transpiration (Dodgen et al, 2015), and the properties of PPCPs play a vital role during this process. PPCPs represent a broad variety of chemicals with a wide range of physico-chemical properties, from extreme hydrophilic (e.g., atenolol at log K ow 0.16 and sulfamethoxazole at log K ow 0.89) to highly hydrophobic chemicals (e.g., atorvastatin at log K ow 6.36 and triclocarban at log K ow 4.90).…”