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Potential Risk of Arsenic and Antimony Accumulation by Medicinal Plants Naturally Growing on Old Mining Sites

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Abstract

It was found that some of the medicinal plants accumulate increased amounts of toxic elements like Cd or Pb. Less is known about the accumulation of other hazardous elements like arsenic (As) and antimony (Sb) in these species. The present paper investigated selected medicinal plants naturally growing on old mining sites in Slovakia, Central Europe, contaminated by As and Sb. Both these elements are nonessential for plants and, in higher level, might be phytotoxic. The soil concentration of As and Sb at three different localities extensively used for mining of Sb ores in former times highly exceed values characteristic for noncontaminated substrates and ranged between 146 and 540 mg kg−1 for As and 525 and 4,463 mg kg−1 for Sb. Extraction experiments of soils show differences between As and Sb leaching, as the highest amount of mobile As was released in acetic acid while Sb was predominantly released in distilled water. In total, seven different plant species were investigated (Fragaria vesca, Taraxacum officinale, Tussilago farfara, Plantago major, Veronica officinalis, Plantago media, and Primula elatior), and the concentration of investigated elements in shoot ranged between 1 and 519 mg kg−1 for As and 10 and 920 mg kg−1 for Sb. Differences in the bioaccumulation of As and Sb as well as in the translocation of these elements from root to shoot within the same species growing on different localities have been found. This indicate that efficiency of As and Sb uptake might vary between individual plants of the same species on different sites. Increased bioaccumulation of As and Sb in biomass of investigated plants might be dangerous for human when used for traditional medicinal purposes.

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Acknowledgments

This study was financially supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency under contract numbers APVV-0268-06, APVV-0140-10, APVV-0344-11, and APVV SK-FR-0020-11, and the Slovak Grant Agency VEGA number 1/1034/11, VEGA 1/0817/12, and by Grant of Comenius University in Bratislava, numbers UK/331/2012 and UK/445/2012, and is a part of COST FA 0905 Action. The authors appreciated valuable help of Mrs. Zuzana Šulavíková in the laboratory.

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  1. Department of Plant Physiology, Comenius University in Bratislava, Mlynska dolina B2, 842 15, Bratislava, Slovakia

    Marek Vaculík & Alexander Lux

  2. Department of Geochemistry, Comenius University in Bratislava, Mlynska dolina B2, 842 15, Bratislava, Slovakia

    Ľubomír Jurkovič & Peter Matejkovič

  3. Department of Ecosozology and Physiotactics, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava, Mlynska dolina B2, 842 15, Bratislava, Slovakia

    Marianna Molnárová

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  1. Marek Vaculík
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Vaculík, M., Jurkovič, Ľ., Matejkovič, P. et al. Potential Risk of Arsenic and Antimony Accumulation by Medicinal Plants Naturally Growing on Old Mining Sites. Water Air Soil Pollut 224, 1546 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-013-1546-9

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