The role of glutathione in the metabolism of plants exposed to environmental contaminants.

Environmental contamination by pharmaceuticals is currently occurring at an unsustainable rate. It is in the public interest that xenobiotics, which enter not only wastewater but also groundwater and drinking water, are removed from the contaminated environment in an efficient and environmentally sound manner. A promising method is phytoremediation, which can meet the requirements. Another contemporary issue is the increasing scarcity of water and the related question of whether it is possible to recycle wastewater and use it for irrigating crops. How plant metabolism responds to pharmaceuticals can be elucidated by biomarkers of oxidative stress caused by xenobiotics. These include the activity of enzymes associated with the detoxification and antioxidant systems of plants. In this work, the effect of currently increasingly used antidepressants (buspirone, sulpiride and paroxetine) was investigated in maize (Zea mays L., DKC 3969) plants grown under sterile conditions in vitro. The work was focused on enzymes related to glutathione metabolism and on ascorbate peroxidase (APX). In plant leaves, the activity of glutathione-S-transferase (GST), a conjugating enzyme of phase II biotransformation of xenobiotics, was increased by all drugs. In addition, a drug-inducible isoform of GST was detected by..