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Necessity of Screening Water Chestnuts for Microcystins After Cyanobacterial Blooms Break Out

Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology volume 57, pages 256–263 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

Water chestnut is one of the most popular vegetables in Asian countries that grows in shallow water. Eighteen water chestnut samples were collected from Lake Tai and six samples were bought at markets in Wuxi, China, in October 2007. Extraction solution of water chestnut was cleaned up with a solid phase extraction column and immunoaffinity chromatography cartridges, then the microcystin (MC) level was detected by indirect competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). The results of ELISA showed that there were six samples collected from Lake Tai which contained MCs; the highest level of total MCs was 7.02 ng/g. The results of LC-MS confirmed that MC-LR and MC-RR were present in five samples. The highest level of MC-LR was 1.02 ng/g and that of MC-RR was 4.44 ng/g. Heavy cyanobacterial blooms had occurred, and MCs were detected in water at the points in Lake Tai where MCs occurred in water chestnuts collected in 2007. MCs were not detected in the six samples bought at Wuxi markets. The results suggest that MCs can accumulate in water chestnuts, which is a potential hazard for human health.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Ministry of Health, China (No. WKJ2006-2-10). We would like to express our gratitude to Tao Guan-Jun and Qin Fang (Jiangnan University) for help with LC-MS. We thank Dr. Richard Hirsh for his help with preparation of the manuscript.

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Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Road, 214122, Wuxi, China

    Fu-Gang Xiao, Jian Tang & Xiao-Hong Gu

  2. Jiangsu Institute of Microbiology Ltd. Co, 7 Qianrong Road, 214063, Wuxi, China

    Xiao-Lian Zhao

  3. Wuxi Center for Disease Prevention and Control, 499 Jincheng Road, 214023, Wuxi, China

    Jing-Ping Zhang & Wei-Min Niu

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  1. Fu-Gang Xiao
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  2. Xiao-Lian Zhao
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  3. Jian Tang
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Correspondence to Jian Tang.

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Xiao, FG., Zhao, XL., Tang, J. et al. Necessity of Screening Water Chestnuts for Microcystins After Cyanobacterial Blooms Break Out. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 57, 256–263 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-008-9275-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-008-9275-6

Keywords

  • Cyanobacterial Bloom
  • Elution Fraction
  • Tolerable Daily Intake
  • Immunoaffinity Chromatography
  • Water Chestnut