Abstract
Carbamazepine (CBZ) is a widely used anti-epileptic drug that has been detected in wastewaters from sewage treating plants and thus appears in rivers, streams and other water bodies. As plants can absorb this compound, it can also appear in edible plants like lettuce, entering the food chain. In this study, the effect of carbamazepine in lettuce plants grown in hydroponic solution is analyzed. CBZ was detected both in roots and in leaves and is shown to induce oxidative stress. Hydrogen peroxide levels increased both in leaves and in roots while malondialdehyde increased only in leaves. Regarding the activity of antioxidative enzymes in the leaves, it is shown that superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), guaiacol peroxidase (GPOD) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) have a relevant role in quenching reactive oxygen species induced by oxidative stress. In roots, the only enzymes that showed increased activity were CAT, GPOD and glutathione reductase (GR). Ascorbate and glutathione also appear to have an important role as antioxidants in response to increased concentrations of carbamazepine. Although the roots are in direct contact with the contaminant, the leaves showed the strongest oxidative effects.
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Abbreviations
- APX:
-
Ascorbate peroxidase
- AsA:
-
Ascorbate
- BSA:
-
Bovine serum albumin
- CAT:
-
Catalase
- CBZ:
-
Carbamazepine
- DPPH:
-
2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl
- EDTA:
-
Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid
- FW:
-
Fresh weight
- GPOD:
-
Guaiacol peroxidase
- GPX:
-
Glutathione peroxidase
- GR:
-
Glutathione reductase
- GSH:
-
Reduced glutathione
- GSSG:
-
Oxidized glutathione
- MDA:
-
Malondialdehyde
- NADPH:
-
Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate
- NDVI:
-
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index
- PPCPs:
-
Pharmaceutical and personal care products
- PRI:
-
Photochemical Reflectance Index
- ROS:
-
Reactive oxygen species
- SOD:
-
Superoxide dismutase
- TBA:
-
Thiobarbituric acid
- TCA:
-
Trichloroacetic acid
- TEAC:
-
Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity
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Acknowledgements
Inês Leitão acknowledges funding from the Universidade de Lisboa in the form of a PhD grant. This work was partially supported by the FCT-funded research unit LEAF - Linking Landscape, Environment, Agriculture and Food (UID/AGR/04129/2013). Thanks are also due to RNEM, the Portuguese Mass Spectrometry Network (LISBOA-01-0145-FEDER-022125-IST/RNEM).
Funding
This work was funded by Universidade de Lisboa in the form of a PhD grant and by the FCT-funded research unit LEAF - Linking Landscape, Environment, Agriculture and Food (UID/AGR/04129/2013).
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IL performed most of the experiments and wrote the initial draft. MPM supervised and conceptualized the work and corrected the initial draft. LC performed some experiments. MCO performed some experiments and supervised the work. MMM conceptualized the work and corrected the initial draft. LLM supervised and conceptualized the work and corrected the initial draft.
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Fig. S1
Typical ionic chromatograms obtained in the ESI positive mode for root (a) and leaf (b) extracts of plants growing with 0.1 mg L-1 CBZ, showing the presence of the protonated molecule (m/z 237.1093) of the pharmaceutical compound after 1 day of exposure. The experimental conditions are outlined in Materials and Methods. (DOCX 139 kb)
Fig. S2
Lettuce plants on day 15 of contamination with different concentrations of CBZ. Control (a), 0.1 mg/L (b), 1 mg/L (c), 5 mg/L (d) (DOCX 504 kb)
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Leitão, I., Mourato, M.P., Carvalho, L. et al. Antioxidative response of lettuce (Lactuca sativa) to carbamazepine-induced stress. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 45920–45932 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-13979-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-13979-3