Accumulation of Microcystin-LR in Grains of Two Rice Varieties ( Oryza sativa L. ) and a Leafy Vegetable, Ipomoea aquatica

• Published in: Toxins Vol. 11; no. 8; p. 432
• Main Authors: Wijewickrama, Menuja M, Manage, Pathmalal M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 24-07-2019; MDPI
• Subjects: Agricultural land; Body weight; Contamination; Crops; Cyanobacteria; Drinking water; Eutrophication; Exposure; Food contamination & poisoning; Health risks; High performance liquid chromatography; human health risk; Ipomoea aquatica; Irrigation; Laboratories; Liquid chromatography; Microcystin-LR; Microcystins; Microcystis; Oryza sativa; Photodiodes; Rice; tolerable daily intake; Vegetables; Water pollution; Sri Lanka; Oryza sativa; microcystins; tolerable daily intake; Ipomoea aquatica; human health risk
• ISSN: 2072-6651; 2072-6651
• DOI: 10.3390/toxins11080432

The potential transfer of microcystin-LR (MC-LR) to humans via crop plants irrigated with MC-contaminated water is causing serious concern. In this study, two
variants, a hybrid (BG358), a traditional (Suwandel) variety, and a leafy green vegetable crop,
, were exposed under laboratory conditions to natural blooms of
sampled from a hypereutrophic lake contaminated with MC-LR (3,197.37 ± 1.04 µg/L). Field samples of
and
were collected from farmlands that had been irrigated from a reservoir, containing MC-LR (180 µg/L). MC-LR was quantified by high performance liquid chromatography followed by photodiode-array detection (HPLC-PDA). From the laboratory study, we calculated the potential human health exposure from BG358, Suwandel and
as 2.84 ± 0.01, 0.22 ± 0.01, and 0.06 ± 0.01 µg/kg of body weight/day, respectively, whereas the potential health exposures from BG358, Suwandel and
collected from the field were 0.10 ± 0.01, 0.009 ± 0.005, and 0.03 ± 0.01 µg/kg of body weight/day, respectively. In certain instances, the results exceeded the World Health Organization's (WHO) tolerable daily intake of MC-LR, posing a potential health risk to humans. Thus, our results emphasize the importance of continuous screening programs for cyanotoxins in edible plants in the future to prevent the consumption of contaminated crops.