Degradation Studies of Pharmaceutical Compounds Present in Recycled Wastewaters Based on Enantiomeric Fractionation”) can affect plants and lower animals
from our agroecosystems which have similar receptor and metabolic enzymatic
systems (chapter “Uptake and effects of pharmaceuticals in the Soil-Plant-Earthworm System”). However, plants have evolved very sophisticated detoxification
systems including a complementary battery of enzymes that are capable of
transforming xenobiotic compounds to yield chemically diverse metabolites
(chapter “Metabolism of Pharmaceuticals in Plants and their Associated
Microbiota”). Many of them are formed in analogy to the liver in mammalian
systems, but a number of plant-specific metabolic reactions have also been identified
(chapter “Metabolism of Pharmaceuticals in Plants and their Associated
Microbiota”). The presence of drugs residues in soil can compromise the abundance,
diversity, and activity of the soil microbial community which is one of the key
players in a range of soil ecosystem services (chapter “Impact of PhACs on Soil
Microorganisms”). Moreover, drug accumulation in agricultural soils may pose a
serious threat to non-target organisms and natural resources (chapter “Biomarkers in
Earthworms”). As the accumulation of drugs in soil can constitute a potential risk for
soil quality and food security, several engineered remediation methodologies have
been developed for their removal from contaminated soils. Unfortunately, these
techniques are often economically prohibitive and may cause adverse side effects
in the environment. Microbes, soil fauna (e.g., earthworms), and their interactions
exert a strong control in the organic matter decomposition and nutrient cycling of
soil. By taking advantages of these naturally occurring processes, the use of earthworms has been proposed to clean biosolids and manure and to reduce the bioavailability of pharmaceuticals to plants (chapter “Vermiremediation of PharmaceuticalContaminated Soils and Organic Amendments”). Another remediation technique is
constructed wetland which is one of the most commonly applied natural solutions
relying on plants for wastewater purification (chapter “Constructed Wetlands and
Phytoremediation as a Tool for Pharmaceutical Removal”). In these environmentally
friendly and cost-efficient systems, drugs are adsorbed and metabolized in soil and
can also be taken up and metabolized in plants. To understand the whereabouts of
drugs in the environment once there have been emitted from the various sources,
sensitive analytical methodologies are required for their detection and quantification as well as for the identification of metabolites in soil and plants (chapters
“Development of Methods for the Determination of PhACs in Soil/Earthworm/
Crop System Irrigated with Reclaimed Water” and “Analytical Approaches for the
Determination and Identification of Drug Metabolites in Plants After Uptake”).
References
1. Gashaw I, Ellinghaus P, Sommer A, Asadullah K (2011) What makes a good drug target?
Drug Discov Today 16(23–24):1037–1043
2. Espiritu MJ, Collier AC, Bingham J-P (2014) A 21st-century approach to age-old problems:
the ascension of biologics in clinical therapeutics. Drug Discov Today 19(8):1109–1113.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drudis.2014.01.008
The Journey of Human Drugs from Their Design at the Bench to Their Fate in Crops
25
from our agroecosystems which have similar receptor and metabolic enzymatic
systems (chapter “Uptake and effects of pharmaceuticals in the Soil-Plant-Earthworm System”). However, plants have evolved very sophisticated detoxification
systems including a complementary battery of enzymes that are capable of
transforming xenobiotic compounds to yield chemically diverse metabolites
(chapter “Metabolism of Pharmaceuticals in Plants and their Associated
Microbiota”). Many of them are formed in analogy to the liver in mammalian
systems, but a number of plant-specific metabolic reactions have also been identified
(chapter “Metabolism of Pharmaceuticals in Plants and their Associated
Microbiota”). The presence of drugs residues in soil can compromise the abundance,
diversity, and activity of the soil microbial community which is one of the key
players in a range of soil ecosystem services (chapter “Impact of PhACs on Soil
Microorganisms”). Moreover, drug accumulation in agricultural soils may pose a
serious threat to non-target organisms and natural resources (chapter “Biomarkers in
Earthworms”). As the accumulation of drugs in soil can constitute a potential risk for
soil quality and food security, several engineered remediation methodologies have
been developed for their removal from contaminated soils. Unfortunately, these
techniques are often economically prohibitive and may cause adverse side effects
in the environment. Microbes, soil fauna (e.g., earthworms), and their interactions
exert a strong control in the organic matter decomposition and nutrient cycling of
soil. By taking advantages of these naturally occurring processes, the use of earthworms has been proposed to clean biosolids and manure and to reduce the bioavailability of pharmaceuticals to plants (chapter “Vermiremediation of PharmaceuticalContaminated Soils and Organic Amendments”). Another remediation technique is
constructed wetland which is one of the most commonly applied natural solutions
relying on plants for wastewater purification (chapter “Constructed Wetlands and
Phytoremediation as a Tool for Pharmaceutical Removal”). In these environmentally
friendly and cost-efficient systems, drugs are adsorbed and metabolized in soil and
can also be taken up and metabolized in plants. To understand the whereabouts of
drugs in the environment once there have been emitted from the various sources,
sensitive analytical methodologies are required for their detection and quantification as well as for the identification of metabolites in soil and plants (chapters
“Development of Methods for the Determination of PhACs in Soil/Earthworm/
Crop System Irrigated with Reclaimed Water” and “Analytical Approaches for the
Determination and Identification of Drug Metabolites in Plants After Uptake”).
References
1. Gashaw I, Ellinghaus P, Sommer A, Asadullah K (2011) What makes a good drug target?
Drug Discov Today 16(23–24):1037–1043
2. Espiritu MJ, Collier AC, Bingham J-P (2014) A 21st-century approach to age-old problems:
the ascension of biologics in clinical therapeutics. Drug Discov Today 19(8):1109–1113.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drudis.2014.01.008
The Journey of Human Drugs from Their Design at the Bench to Their Fate in Crops
25