Potential toxicity of Schisandra chinensis to water environment: acute toxicity tests with water crustaceans

Abstract

Fruits of Schisandra chinensis, an East Asian liana plant, are currently more and more used to produce nutrient supplements that positively afect human health due to the content of various secondary metabolites. On the other hand, these substances because of their bioactivity can cause possible allelopathic or toxic efects concerning other organisms (algae, plants, animals). But the ecotoxicological properties of S. chinensis outside its area of origin have yet to be sufciently verifed. Two crustaceans, Daphnia magna and Thamnocephalus platyurus, were selected as model aquatic organisms to test the potential impact of S. chinensis active compounds on the aquatic environment. Crude water extract from S. chinensis fruits, simulating the natural leakage of active substances in water, was tested in treatments from 0.0045 to 45 mg/L (according to the content of schisandrin as the dominating lignan). Efective concentration (EC50) causing 50% lethal efect for D. magna was established to 0.0448 mg/L after 24 h and 0.0152 mg/L after 48 h. EC50 for T. platyurus reached 0.4572 mg/L after 24 h, i.e. more than ten times higher than for D. magna. This study showed that the potential environmentally relevant concentrations of S. chinensis bioactive compounds could represent a severe risk to aquatic ecosystems.Fruits of Schisandra chinensis, an East Asian liana plant, are currently more and more used to produce nutrient supplements that positively afect human health due to the content of various secondary metabolites. On the other hand, these substances because of their bioactivity can cause possible allelopathic or toxic efects concerning other organisms (algae, plants, animals). But the ecotoxicological properties of S. chinensis outside its area of origin have yet to be sufciently verifed. Two crustaceans, Daphnia magna and Thamnocephalus platyurus, were selected as model aquatic organisms to test the potential impact of S. chinensis active compounds on the aquatic environment. Crude water extract from S. chinensis fruits, simulating the natural leakage of active substances in water, was tested in treatments from 0.0045 to 45 mg/L (according to the content of schisandrin as the dominating lignan). Efective concentration (EC50) causing 50% lethal efect for D. magna was established to 0.0448 mg/L after 24 h and 0.0152 mg/L after 48 h. EC50 for T. platyurus reached 0.4572 mg/L after 24 h, i.e. more than ten times higher than for D. magna. This study showed that the potential environmentally relevant concentrations of S. chinensis bioactive compounds could represent a severe risk to aquatic ecosystems.