Joanna Augustynowicz

Chromium(VI) bioremediation by aquatic macrophyte Callitriche cophocarpa Sendtn.

Callitriche cophocarpa (water-starwort)--aquatic widespread macrophyte--was found to be an excellent chromium accumulator. The plants were exposed to various chromium(VI) concentration ranging from 50 to 700 microM in a hydroponic culture up to ca. 3 weeks. Physiological conditions of shoots were monitored via measuring potential photosynthesis quantum efficiency (F(v)/F(m)) and photosynthetic pigment contents. Additionally, the structure of leaves was analyzed using optical and atomic force microscopy (AFM). It has been shown that plants grown in 50 microM Cr(VI) solution exhibited photosynthetic activity and shoot and leaf morphology similar to control plants. Moreover, at the same time the average Cr concentration in their shoots reached about 470 mg kg(-1)d.w. after 10d and up to 1000 mg kg(-1)d.w. after 3 weeks of culture while in control plants did not exceed a few mgkg(-1)d.w. Our results point to Callitriche cophocarpa as a very promising species to be used in the investigation of chromium(VI) phytoremediation mechanisms as well as a good candidate for wastewaters remediation purpose.

Callitriche cophocarpa — a new rich source of active phenolic compounds

This study was focused on the analysis of the contents (by HPLC-DAD) and antioxidant activity of phenolic compounds of aquatic higher plant Callitriche cophocarpa. The novelty of the work was: 1) the study of the species which is almost unknown in the context of investigations of bio-active compounds and, 2) the application of a unique L-band electron resonance spectroscopy (L-band EPR) to measure antioxidant activity of samples. The results were compared with those obtained for microalgae Chlorella and Spirulina which are widely distributed as the diet supplements. The obtained results are very promising with respect to the freeze-dried material of Callitriche, which revealed both high level of phenolic compounds (33 mg g−1 dry weight) and antioxidant activity (0.14 g of reduced DPPH· g−1 dry weight). An isoform of sinapic acid appeared to be the main fraction in this sample. The average content of the total phenolic compounds in Callitriche freeze-dried samples was ca. 43 or 25 times higher than in the case of the Chlorella or Spirulina samples, respectively. These samples showed also 16 times lower scavenging activity in relation to freeze-dried Callitriche material.

Strategy of Cr detoxification by Callitriche cophocarpa

AbstractThe present work focused on the qualitative and quantitative analysis of Cr detoxification strategy of aquatic cosmopolitan plant Callitriche cophocarpa. This plant species has just been described in the context of its unusual accumulation potential of Cr. The emphasis of the work was placed on the redox reaction Cr(VI)→Cr(III) which is considered to be remediation mechanism of highly reactive and mobile Cr(VI) ions. Plants were immersed for 5 days in 1 mM of Cr(VI) (potassium dichromate) or 1 mM of Cr(III) (chromium sulphate) solutions in semi-natural conditions. Cr was effectively removed from the solution up to the extent of ca.58% or 35% of the starting amount, in the case of Cr(III) and Cr(VI), respectively. No plant-induced Cr(VI) reduction accompanying Cr accumulation was observed in Cr(VI) solutions except from the apparent one, noticed at the fourth day of incubation. On the contrary to these results, according to the method of electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy (L-band EPR), biphasic signal of Cr(V) attending Cr(VI) to Cr(III) reduction was detected inside the plant tissue every day of investigations. Our results show that phytoextraction but not phytostabilization is the main strategy of Cr detoxification by C. cophocarpa in aquatic systems.

Antioxidant properties of fruits of raspberryand blackberry grown in central Europe

Abstract Fruits of several, mainly Polish cultivars of floricane- and primocane-fruiting red raspberry (Rubus idaeus), black raspberry (Rubus occidentalis) and blackberry (Rubus fruticosus), grown in central Europe during two successive vegetation periods, were investigated. The content of phenolic compounds, including anthocyanins, as well as antioxidant properties of fruit extracts were analysed. A number of methods were employed: ferric ion reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), cupric ion reducing antioxidant capacity (CUPRAC), 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging capacity involving both colorimetric and EPR spectrometric measurements. From among all the tested fruits black raspberries had the largest antioxidant capacity as verified by all methods used in this study. These berries were also the most abundant in phenolic and anthocyanin compounds. Blackberries were characterised by larger antioxidant capacity than red raspberry fruits which were accompanied by higher content of total phenolics and anthocyanins. Berries of primocane-fruiting cultivars, often used for intensive agricultural production, generally did not differ in the total phenolic and anthocyanin content as well as in the antioxidant capacity as compared to the traditional, floricane-fruiting ones. The research contributes to deep characterisation of central European berry fruits which due to their high content and large diversity of health-beneficial compounds are classified as natural functional food. Graphical Abstract