Zinc and Cadmium Mapping in the Apical Shoot and Hypocotyl Tissues of Radish by High-Resolution Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (NanoSIMS) after Short-Term Exposure to Metal Contamination

Gabrijel Ondrasek, Peta L. Clode, Matt R. Kilburn, Paul Guagliardo, Davor Romić and Zed Rengel
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Gabrijel Ondrasek: UWA School of Agriculture and Environment, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley WA 6009, Australia
Peta L. Clode: The Centre for Microscopy, Characterisation and Analysis, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley WA 6009, Australia
Matt R. Kilburn: The Centre for Microscopy, Characterisation and Analysis, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley WA 6009, Australia
Paul Guagliardo: The Centre for Microscopy, Characterisation and Analysis, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley WA 6009, Australia
Davor Romić: Faculty of Agriculture, The University of Zagreb, Svetosimunska cesta 25, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia
Zed Rengel: UWA School of Agriculture and Environment, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley WA 6009, Australia

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 3, 1-13

Abstract: Zinc (as an essential phytonutrient) and cadmium (as a toxic but readily bioavailable nonessential metal for plants) share similar routes for crossing plant biomembranes, although with a substantially different potential for translocation into above-ground tissues. The in situ distribution of these metals in plant cells and tissues (particularly intensively-dividing and fast-growing areas) is poorly understood. In this study, 17-day-old radish ( Raphanus sativus L.) plants grown in nutrient solution were subjected to short-term (24 h) equimolar contamination (2.2 µ M of each 70 Zn and Cd) to investigate their accumulation and distribution in the shoot apex (leaf primordia) and edible fleshy hypocotyl tissues. After 24-h exposure, radish hypocotyl had similar concentration (in µg/g dry weight) of 70 Zn (12.1 ± 1.1) and total Cd (12.9 ± 0.8), with relatively limited translocation of both metals to shoots (concentrations lower by 2.5-fold for 70 Zn and 4.8-fold for Cd) as determined by inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The in situ Zn/Cd distribution maps created by high-resolution secondary ion mass spectrometry (NanoSIMS, Cameca, Gennevilliers, France) imaging corresponded well with the ICP-MS data, confirming a similar pattern and uniform distribution of 70 Zn and Cd across the examined areas. Both applied techniques can be powerful tools for quantification (ICP-MS) and localisation and visualisation (NanoSIMS) of some ultra-trace isotopes in the intensively-dividing cells and fast-growing tissues of non-metalophytes even after short-term metal exposure. The results emphasise the importance of the quality of (agro)ecosystem resources (growing media, metal-contaminated soils/waters) in the public health risk, given that, even under low contamination and short-term exposure, some of the most toxic metallic ions (e.g., Cd) can relatively rapidly enter the human food chain.

Keywords: Cd; Zn; ICP-MS; NanoSIMS; hypocotyl; shoot apex; food contamination (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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