McGill University, Department of Natural Resource Science, Macdonald Campus, 21,111 Lakeshore Road, Ste-Anne-de Bellevue, Quebec, H9X 3V9, Canada.
BlueLeaf Inc., 310 Chapleau Street, Drummondville, Quebec, J2B 5E9, Canada.
Chemosphere. 2021 Jul;274:129781. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.129781. Epub 2021 Jan 26.
Cyanotoxins, as secondary metabolites of cyanobacteria, are highly toxic to humans, animals and plants. Cyanobacterial blooms are 'hot spots' for cyanotoxin production, but we hypothesized that cyanotoxins will be present in multiple ecological compartments of agricultural watersheds. We detected cyanotoxins in the vadose zone (soil and drainage water from the soil profile) and in groundwater used as a drinking water source from agricultural watersheds. Cyanotoxins detection was confirmed with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits and ultra-high liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry. This work confirms that cyanotoxins exist outside of freshwater lakes, based on detection of microcystins in the vadose zone and in drinking water sourced from groundwater in agricultural watersheds. This suggests that cyanotoxins may be transferred from cyanobacterial blooms in lakes to groundwater through normal hydrologic processes. Public health authorities should be alerted to cyanotoxins in drinking water supplies and proper monitoring and treatment protocols should be implemented to protect citizens from this potential health hazard.
蓝藻毒素作为蓝藻的次生代谢物，对人类、动物和植物具有高度毒性。蓝藻水华是蓝藻毒素产生的“热点”，但我们假设蓝藻毒素将存在于农业流域的多个生态区室中。我们在包气带（土壤和土壤剖面的排水水）和用作饮用水源的地下水中检测到了蓝藻毒素。通过酶联免疫吸附试剂盒和超高效液相色谱串联质谱法对蓝藻毒素的检测进行了确认。这项工作证实了蓝藻毒素存在于淡水湖泊之外，因为在包气带和农业流域地下水中饮用水源中都检测到了微囊藻毒素。这表明蓝藻毒素可能通过正常的水文过程从湖泊中的蓝藻水华转移到地下水。公共卫生当局应注意饮用水供应中的蓝藻毒素，并应实施适当的监测和处理方案，以保护公民免受这一潜在健康危害。
