Combined effect of co-existing heavy metals and organophosphate pesticide on adsorption of atrazine to river sediments

Increasing Risks to the Health of the Invertebrates-Balancing between Harm and Benefit

The article discusses the issue of extensive use of detergents and sanitizers in the time of new challenges associated with the COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic. These agents could pose threats to the existence of free-living invertebrates as essential components of the ecosystem. The biological effects of the mentioned classes of substances, their metabolites, and combined effects in the mixture have not been studied enough. The main challenges in trying to balance the threats and benefits of using such substances are the lack of knowledge of the biological effects of these products, the gaps in testing invertebrates' responses, and changes in environment-related regulations to minimize risks to animals and humans. Numerous studies in this field still leave research gaps, particularly concerning the combined toxicity of well-known and widely used disinfectants, surfactants, and heavy metals, posing potential future challenges. Additionally, the review identified the need for additional testing of invertebrates for their sensitivity to disinfectants and surfactants of different compositions, including improved (non-invasive) methods, studies for early life stages, and comparative studies of species resilience.

Identification of metabolite biomarkers in serum of rats exposed to chlorpyrifos and cadmium

Chlorpyrifos (CPF) and cadmium (Cd) are widespread environmental pollutants, which are often present in drinking water and foods. However, the combined effects of CPF and Cd were not entirely clear at present. There was also no biomarker available to diagnose the poisoning of the two chemicals at low dose for long-term exposures. In this study, we investigated the change of serum metabolites of rats with subchronic exposure to CPF, Cd, and CPF plus Cd using gas chromatography-mass spectrometer-based metabolomics approach. We performed a stepwise optimization algorithm based on receiver operating characteristic to identify serum metabolite biomarkers for toxic diagnosis of the chemicals at different doses after 90-day exposure. We found that aminomalonic acid was the biomarker for the toxicity of Cd alone administration, and serine and propanoic acid were unique biomarkers for the toxicities of CPF plus Cd administrations. Our results suggest that subchronic exposure to CPF and Cd alone, or in combination at their low doses, could cause disturbance of energy and amino acid metabolism. Overall, we have shown that analysis of serum metabolomics can make exceptional contributions to the understanding of the toxic effects following long-term low-dose exposure of the organophosphorus pesticide and heavy metal.

Combined pollution of copper nanoparticles and atrazine in soil: Effects on dissipation of the pesticide and on microbiological community profiles

Copper nanoparticles (NCu) have been proposed as an antimicrobial agent in agriculture. Therefore, NCu may interact with numerous pollutants including pesticides. Little is known about the combined effects of NCu and pesticides in soil. This study aimed at assessing the impact of NCu combined with the herbicide atrazine (ATZ) on soil. We focused on assessing the adsorption and dissipation of ATZ in the presence of NCu and the changes in microbial community profiles. First, ATZ adsorption isotherms (described using the Freundlich equation) were evaluated. After that, soil samples were spiked with NCu (40-60 nm) at 0.05 and 0.15% w/w and ATZ (3 mg a.i kg^-1) and incubated for 30 days. The results showed that ATZ adsorption is favored by the presence of NCu. On the other hand, NCu at 0.15% w/w caused a significant decrease in ATZ dissipation, increasing its half-life from 6 to 37 days. Microbial community profiles (bacteria, fungi and nitrifying bacteria) remained relatively stable throughout the evaluated period. Therefore, our findings suggest that NCu can increase the persistence of ATZ in soil, which may be mostly associated to physical-chemical interaction with soil particles more than a microbial impact.

Rapidly formed quinalphos complexes with transition metal ions characterized by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry

RATIONALE

Electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MS/MS) offers the unique opportunity to characterize complexes of the organophosphorus pesticide (OP) quinalphos (PA-Q) with transition metal ions immediately formed after contact. This study complements research looking at longer term kinetics of quinalphos hydrolysis in the presence of transition metal ions and gives insights into the structural features of the initial complex formation in solution. (Hydrolysis reaction: PA-Q + H2 O → PA-OH + HQ, where PA-OH is the diethyl phosphate product and HQ is hydroxyquinoxaline.)

METHODS

Low micromolar PA-Q solutions with an approximately 3-fold molar excess of transition metal ions were immediately analyzed after mixing. Fragmentation of the transition metal ion complexes with PA-Q was accomplished in two different ways: first, in-source fragmentation by elevating the declustering potential and second, low-energy collision-induced dissociation (CID).

RESULTS

For Ag(+), the [PA-Q - Ag(+)] and respective Ag(+) -containing degradation product ions are readily observed. For Cu(2+), we observed the [PA-Q + Cu(2+) + NO3(-)] complex ion with weak intensity and strong signals from both the [2PA-Q + Cu(+)] and the [PA-Q + Cu(+)] ions, the latter two attributable to charge-state reduction in the gas phase from Cu(II) to Cu(I), indicating that PA-Q fulfills specific structural requirements of the formed complex for charge-state reduction during transition from solution to the gas phase. For Hg(2+), the [PA-Q + Hg(2+) + (PA-OH - H)(-)] ion was the largest observed species containing one Hg(2+) ion. No 1:1 species ([PA-Q] or other degradation products:Hg(2+)) was observable.

CONCLUSIONS

ESI-MS/MS of complexes formed from PA-Q and transition metal ions is a formidable technique to probe initial formation of these complexes in solution. Previous work from other groups established structural requirements that enable charge-state reduction from Cu(II) to Cu(I) in ligand complexes during transition into the gas phase, and these rules allow us to propose structural features of PA-Q complexes with copper ions in solution.

Interaction of bisphenol A with dissolved organic matter in extractive and adsorptive removal processes

The fate of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in natural and engineered systems is complicated due to their interactions with various water constituents. This study investigated the interaction of bisphenol A (BPA) with dissolved organic matter (DOM) and colloids present in surface water and secondary effluent as well as its adsorptive removal by powdered activated carbons. The solid phase micro-extraction (SPME) method followed by thermal desorption and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was utilized for determining the distribution of BPA molecules in water. The BPA removal by SPME decreased with the increased DOM content, where the formation of BPA-DOM complexes in an aqueous matrix was responsible for the reduced extraction of BPA. Colloidal particles in water samples sorbed BPA leading to the marked reduction of liquid phase BPA. BPA-DOM complexes had a negative impact on the adsorptive removal of BPA by powered activated carbons. The complex formation was characterized based on Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, along with the calculation of molecular interactions between BPA and functional groups in DOM. It was found that the hydrogen bonding between DOM and BPA would be preferred over aromatic interactions. A pseudo-equilibrium molecular coordination model for the complexation between a BPA molecule and a hydroxyl group of the DOM was developed, which enabled estimation of the maximum sorption site and complex formation constant as well as prediction of organic complexes at various DOM levels.