Uptake and Transformation of the Pharmaceutical Carbamazepine By Crops.

Pharmaceuticals detected in treated wastewater are introduced into the agricultural environment. Thus, their uptake and metabolism by plants are of increasing concern. The research aimed to identify the uptake, translocation and metabolism of carbamzepine in crops under agricultural conditions. In this study we inverstigated the following crops: carrot and sweet potato (grown in lysimeters), and tomato, cucumber and lettuce which were grown in a greenhouse. All crops were irrigated with high-quality treated wastewater.

Two metabolites of carbamzepine were identified and quantified, 10,11-epoxycarbamazepine (EP-carbamzepine) and 10,11-dihydroxycarbamazepine (DiOH-carbamzepine). In root crops, the parent compound (carbamzepine ) was dominant in the soil and roots. However, in the leaves the concentrations of EP-carbamzepine were significantly higher than that of carbamzepine, indicating in-plant metabolism. In tomatoes and cucumbers, carbamzepine concentrations were higher than that of the metabolites. Among the metabolites EP-carbamzepine was the dominant in leaves while DiOH- carbamzepine was the dominant in the fruit.

These are the first studies to quantify transformation products of carbamzepine in plant organs and to demonstrate that their concentrations could be equal to or several times higher than those of the parent compound.