CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Mercury speciation in different tissues of Hg-enriched vines Pablo Pacheco, Federico Gomez, Luis Dante Martinez, Maria Fernanda Silva Public health reasons and the fact that mercury is a potential environmental toxicant have increased the interest in mercury speciation analysis in a variety of biological, industrial, and food samples. Vitis Vinifera is economically important as the source of grapes, both for direct consumption of the fruit and for fermentation to produce wine. This study describes the absorption and distribution patterns of mercury in different tissues of Vitis Vinifera cv Malbec plants after supplementation with inorganic mercury. In a first stage, Malbec plants were grown and supplemented with inorganic mercury through irrigation water. Different concentrations of mercury were evaluated in order to establish the adequate concentration for future studies. After four days of supplementation, the plants were allowed to mature for one additional week before harvesting. The health of each plant was visually indifferent to the supplementation type given. Roots, stems and leaves were collected. Different tissue samples were dried and lyophilized prior to its analysis. The analysis was performed in a first stage through an extraction process, followed by the determination of organic and inorganic fractions through FI-UV-CV-AFS. Results revealed that contaminated irrigation waters can be a potential source of mercury for Vitis Vinifera plants. In addition, Malbec plants showed a great capacity to accumulate mercury. Mercury analysis through FI-UV-CV-AFS showed that mercury in vines is accumulated mostly as organic fraction. - Bo Meng, X. Feng, G. Qiu, Y. Cai, D. Wang, P. Li, L. Shang, J. Sommar, J. Agric. Food Chem. 2010, 58, 49514958. - Q. Chan, S. E. Afton, J. A. Caruso; Metallomics, 2010, 2, 147153.