Abstract
Cyanotoxins are a large group of noxious metabolites with different chemical structure and mechanisms of action, with a worldwide distribution, producing effects in animals, humans, and crop plants. When cyanotoxin-contaminated waters are used for the irrigation of edible vegetables, humans can be in contact with these toxins through the food chain. In this work, a method for the simultaneous detection of Microcystin-LR (MC-LR), Microcystin-RR (MC-RR), Microcystin-YR (MC-YR), and Cylindrospermopsin (CYN) in lettuce has been optimized and validated, using a dual solid phase extraction (SPE) system for toxin extraction and ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) for analysis. Results showed linear ranges (5–50 ng g−1 f.w.), low values for limit of detection (LOD) (0.06–0.42 ng g−1 f.w.), and limit of quantification (LOQ) (0.16–0.91 ng g−1 f.w.), acceptable recoveries (41–93%), and %RSDIP values for the four toxins. The method proved to be robust for the three variables tested. Finally, it was successfully applied to detect these cyanotoxins in edible vegetables exposed to cyanobacterial extracts under laboratory conditions, and it could be useful for monitoring these toxins in edible vegetables for better exposure estimation in terms of risk assessment.
Highlights
Eutrophication and climate change may promote the proliferation and expansion of harmful cyanobacterial blooms in freshwater, estuarine, and marine ecosystems [1]
CYN is an alkaloid consisting of a tricyclic guanidine moiety combined with hidroxymethiluracil, which can be produced by Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii and Chrysosporum ovalisporum [7]
Considering that MCs and CYN may coexist in natural environments, the aim of this work was to develop and validate a simple, sensitive, and robust analytical method for the simultaneous detection of the most common congeners of MCs (MC-LR, MC-RR, and MC-YR) and CYN in edible vegetables, such as lettuce, in a single analysis
Summary
Eutrophication and climate change may promote the proliferation and expansion of harmful cyanobacterial blooms in freshwater, estuarine, and marine ecosystems [1]. An increasing number of cyanobacteria can produce toxic metabolites named cyanotoxins [2], which comprise a large variety of compounds with various structural and physicochemical properties [3]. Among these cyanotoxins, microcystins (MCs) and cylindrospermopsin (CYN) are amongst the most studied because of their widespread distribution. CYN is well known by its inhibition of protein and glutathione synthesis, induction of oxidative stress, and cytochrome P450 seems to mediate its toxicity; its pro-genotoxic activity has been studied [6,8]. These toxic effects on animals are well documented, fewer studies have focused on their effects on vegetables, either in leaves, roots, and stems, such as oxidative stress, alterations in growth, germination, and development, and in mineral and vitamin contents [4,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16]
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