J 2021

Retrospective HRMS Screening and Dedicated Target Analysis Reveal a Wide Exposure to Pyrrolizidine Alkaloids in Small Streams

GÜNTHARDT, Barbara F., Felix E. WETTSTEIN, Juliane HOLLENDER, Heinz SINGER, Jana HÄRRI et. al.

Basic information

Original name

Retrospective HRMS Screening and Dedicated Target Analysis Reveal a Wide Exposure to Pyrrolizidine Alkaloids in Small Streams

Authors

GÜNTHARDT, Barbara F. (756 Switzerland), Felix E. WETTSTEIN (756 Switzerland), Juliane HOLLENDER (756 Switzerland), Heinz SINGER (756 Switzerland), Jana HÄRRI (756 Switzerland), Martin SCHERINGER (756 Switzerland, guarantor, belonging to the institution), Konrad HUNGERBÜHLER (756 Switzerland) and Thomas D. BUCHELI (756 Switzerland)

Edition

Environmental Science and Technology, American Chemical Society, 2021, 0013-936X

Other information

Language

English

Type of outcome

Článek v odborném periodiku

Field of Study

10511 Environmental sciences

Country of publisher

United States of America

Confidentiality degree

není předmětem státního či obchodního tajemství

References:

Impact factor

Impact factor: 11.357

RIV identification code

RIV/00216224:14310/21:00122255

Organization unit

Faculty of Science

DOI

UT WoS

000612354700025

Keywords in English

Plants; Contamination; Toxins; Surface waters; Computer simulations

Tags

Tags

International impact, Reviewed
Změněno: 10/1/2022 11:28, Mgr. Marie Šípková, DiS.

Abstract

V originále

Pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) are found to be toxic pollutants emitted into the environment by numerous plant species, resulting in contamination. In this article, we investigate the occurrence of PAs in the aquatic environment of small Swiss streams combining two different approaches. Pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) are toxic secondary metabolites produced by numerous plant species. Although they were classified as persistent and mobile and found to be emitted into the environment, their occurrence in surface waters is largely unknown. Therefore, we performed a retrospective data analysis of two extensive HRMS campaigns each covering five small streams in Switzerland over the growing season. All sites were contaminated with up to 12 individual PAs and temporal detection frequencies between 36 and 87%. Individual PAs were in the low ng/L range, but rain-induced maximal total PA concentrations reached almost 100 ng/L in late spring and summer. Through PA patterns in water and plants, several species were tentatively identified as the source of contamination, with Senecio spp. and Echium vulgare being the most important. Additionally, two streams were monitored, and PAs were quantified with a newly developed, faster, and more sensitive LC-MS/MS method to distinguish different plant-based and indirect human PA sources. A distinctly different PA fingerprint in aqueous plant extracts pointed to invasive Senecio inaequidens as the main source of the surface water contamination at these sites. Results indicate that PA loads may increase if invasive species are sufficiently abundant.