The accumulation of six pharmaceuticals of different therapeutic uses has been thoroughly investigated and compared between onion, spinach, and radish plants grown in six soil types. While neutral molecules (e.g., carbamazepine (CAR) and some of its metabolites) were efficiently accumulated and easily translocated to the plant leaves (onion > radish > spinach), the same for ionic (both anionic and cationic) molecules seems to be minor to moderate. The maximum accumulation of CAR crosses 38,000 (onion), 42,000 (radish), and 7000 (spinach) ng g-1 (dry weight) respectively, in which the most majority of them happened within the plant leaves. Among the metabolites, the accumulation of carbamazepine 10,11-epoxide (EPC - a primary CAR metabolite) was approximately 19,000 (onion), 7000 (radish), and 6000 (spinach) ng g-1 (dry weight) respectively. This trend was considerably similar even when all these pharmaceuticals applied together. The accumulation of most other molecules (e.g., citalopram, clindamycin, clindamycin sulfoxide, fexofenadine, irbesartan, and sulfamethoxazole) was restricted to plant roots, except for certain cases (e.g., clindamycin and clindamycin sulfoxide in onion leaves). Our results clearly demonstrated the potential role of this accumulation process on the entrance of pharmaceuticals/metabolites into the food chain, which eventually becomes a threat to associated living biota.

• Keywords
• Metabolism, Pharmaceutical accumulation, Pharmaceuticals, Plant-dependent transformation of pharmaceuticals, Plants, Root uptake, Soils, Translocation of pharmaceuticals in plant,
• MeSH
• Onions MeSH
• Clindamycin metabolism   MeSH
• Soil Pollutants * analysis   MeSH
• Pharmaceutical Preparations metabolism   MeSH
• Soil chemistry   MeSH
• Raphanus * metabolism   MeSH
• Plants metabolism   MeSH
• Spinacia oleracea metabolism   MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Names of Substances
• Clindamycin MeSH
• Soil Pollutants * MeSH
• Pharmaceutical Preparations MeSH
• Soil MeSH

Soils can be contaminated by pharmaceuticals. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of soil conditions (influencing sorption and persistence of pharmaceuticals in soils) and plant type on the root uptake of selected pharmaceuticals and their transformation in plant-soil systems. Four plants (lamb's lettuce, spinach, arugula, radish) planted in 3 soils were irrigated for 20 days (26) with water contaminated by one of 3 pharmaceuticals (carbamazepine, atenolol, sulfamethoxazole) or their mixture. The concentrations of pharmaceuticals and their metabolites in soils and plant tissues were evaluated after the harvest. Sulfamethoxazole and atenolol dissipated rapidly from soils. The larger concentrations of both compounds and an atenolol metabolite were found in roots than in leaves. Sulfamethoxazole metabolites were below the limits of quantifications. Carbamazepine was stable in soils, easily uptaken, accumulated, and metabolized in plant leaves. The efficiency of radish and arugula (both family Brassicaceae) in metabolizing was very low contrary to the high and moderate efficiencies of lamb's lettuce and spinach, respectively. Compounds' transformations mostly masked the soil impact on their accumulation in plant tissues. The negative relationships were found between the carbamazepine sorption coefficients and its concentrations in roots of radish, lamb's lettuce, and spinach.

• Keywords
• Compound’s translocation in plant, Metabolites, Pharmaceuticals, Plant-dependent compound’s transformation, Plants, Root uptake, Soils,
• MeSH
• Atenolol metabolism   MeSH
• Carbamazepine analysis   metabolism   MeSH
• Soil Pollutants analysis   metabolism   MeSH
• Plant Leaves metabolism   MeSH
• Soil MeSH
• Raphanus metabolism   MeSH
• Plants metabolism   MeSH
• Sulfamethoxazole metabolism   MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Names of Substances
• Atenolol MeSH
• Carbamazepine MeSH
• Soil Pollutants MeSH
• Soil MeSH
• Sulfamethoxazole MeSH