Insights into the Uptake Processes of Wastewater-Borne Pharmaceuticals by Vegetables

Abstract

An increasing number of reports on plant uptake of pharmaceutical compounds (PCs) have been recently published, raising concerns of human exposure through dietary intake. In this study, PC uptake and translocation were evaluated in cucumber and tomato plants to elucidate the effects of PC physicochemical properties, soil type, and irrigation-water quality. Nonionic PCs were taken up and accumulated at higher levels in plants grown in soils of lower organic matter and clay content. While the concentration of most PCs in cucumber and tomato leaves were of similar order, their concentrations in the tomato fruit were much lower than in the cucumber fruit. This is related to differences in fruit physiology. Our data suggest that irrigation with treated wastewater reduces the bioavailability of acidic PCs for uptake by cucumber plants as compared to fresh water irrigation. This study sheds light on factors affecting the uptake of PCs by crops irrigated with treated wastewater, the governing role of PCs' physicochemical properties along with the physiological nature of the plant, soil properties and water quality that together determine uptake, translocation, and accumulation within plant organs. Occurrence of metabolites in plant suggests that PC metabolism has to be evaluated to reveal the total uptake.

Potential ecological footprints of active pharmaceutical ingredients: an examination of risk factors in low-, middle- and high-income countries

“…In dry areas of South America, treated or poorly treated effluents are commonly used for irrigation; for example, primarily treated sewage effluents are used for irrigation in Mendoza City (Argentina) [86]. APIcontaminated water used for irrigation has led to concerns related to uptake in plants and soil organisms [87,88], as well as potential for development and transfer of resistance genes in soil-based pathogens [89]. Septage collected from septic systems is often disposed of on open land or agricultural fields [68].…”

Determination of emerging contaminants in environmental matrices

“…1.12. This fact may be explained by the concern of ECs being introduced in the food chain as some authors have highlighted (Cortes et al, 2013;Goldstein et al, 2014;Hurtado et al, 2016;Wu et al, 2015). Preliminary studies are pointing out that some edible plants may accumulate ECs into the roots, leaves or fruits, due to the presence of these pollutants in soil, water and organic amendments as mentioned previously.…”

“…The most recent findings of ECs in the environment can be attributed to improvements in analytical instrumentation with new and improved equipment and techniques such as gas or liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry allowing to detect and quantify these new compounds at trace levels, opening a broad range of previously undetected pollutants present in different matrices including soil, water, food, tissue, blood and breast milk (Bao et al, 2015;Chefetz et al, 2008;Corcellas et al, 2012;Goldstein et al, 2014;Wingfors et al, 2005). Thus, it was how scientists started to be aware of a new family of contaminants that could be defined as follows:…”

“…Finally, inappropriate disposal of these compounds is another source that cannot be neglected (Yu and Wu, 2012). Nonetheless, the input sources are well-known, but the fate and behavior of these emerging contaminants in the environment (Guzman et al, 2006;Kohler and Triebskorn, 2013;Lindberg et al, 2007) and their possible introduction into the food chain (plant uptake) (Goldstein et al, 2014;Wu et al, 2013) need further study.…”

“…Emerging contaminants (ECs) have raised concern among the scientific community because of their ubiquitous presence in different environmental compartments Bell et al, 2013;Wang et al, 2012;Wu et al, 2011) and the risk they may pose to the environment and human health, taking also into account their potential bioaccumulation in animals (Corcellas et al, 2015;Ortiz de Garcia et al, 2013) and uptake by plants (Tanoue et al, 2012;Wu et al, 2011), which are routes for entering the food chain (Calderon-Preciado et al, 2011;Goldstein et al, 2014;Rodil et al, 2012).…”