Histochemical Detection of Lead in Plant Tissues

Abstract

A histochemical staining technique using sodium rhodizonate was developed for detecting lead in living or preserved plant tissues. Sodium rhodizonate formed a bright scarlet-red precipitate with lead at pH 3.0, but showed no significant color responses with other metals. The precipitation of lead by this staining technique was confirmed by detection of lead in the red-stained precipitate with electron microscopy X-ray analysis. This histochemical technique for lead provided rapid, quantifiable, and unambiguous evidence for the accumulation and localization of lead in plant tissues. Soil-borne lead accumulated primarily in the roots, although at high concentrations, lead also accumulated at the ends of transpirational streams, particularly at hydathodes, trichomes, and the termini of xylem streams. Lead deposited from the atmosphere accumulated on the surface of conifer foliage and also appeared in or on cell walls of various internal cells and tissues. Lead concentrations in foliage and the color intensity of the stained deposits in spruce foliage decreased with distance from the lead source and increased with age of needles. No evidence of lead deposition inside cell contents was observed by this stain.

Growth, histochemical and physiological responses of non-edible oil producing plant (Reutealis trisperma) to gold mine tailings

“…The numbers within the same columns followed by the same uppercase letter indicates no significant difference at P ≤ 0.05, as determined by an independent-samples t-test. Various studies have been done to verify the absorption of lead by some of terrestrial plants with focus on the roots organ (Tung and Temple 1996;Baranowska-Morek and Wierzbicka 2004). In roots, the lead is primarily accumulated in apoplastic spaces with little lead transport into aboveground portions of the plant (Tanton and Crowdy 1971).…”

“…The metal binding at the epidermis cell wall is part of a strategy to prevent metal from going further into the internal tissues at roots. However, in the plants exposed to high concentration of lead, the substance was also transported apoplastically into the internal tissues such as cortical, endodermal and even vascular tissue (Tung and Temple 1996).…”

“…The observation of lead accumulated by plant tissues was carried out using sodium rhodizonate according to the method proposed by Tung and Temple (1996) with some modification. Samples for observation were prepared with standard freehand sectioning according to Ruzin (1999).…”

The bianchetto truffle (Tuber borchii) a lead‐resistant ectomycorrhizal fungus increases Quercus cerris phytoremediation potential

“…Morphological features of ectomycorrhizas were firstly observed under a dissecting microscope (×20) and then hand‐made cross‐sections of fresh unramified ends were carried out by using a razor blade. Sodium rhodizonate was applied to mycelia and ectomycorrhizal sections to visualize the lead particles forming a pink‐coloured lead–rhodizonate complex (Glater & Hernandez, 1972; Tung & Temple, 1996). All the microscopic observations were carried out under an Eclipse TE 2000‐E microscope (×1000) (Nikon) and images captured with a DXM1200F digital camera (Nikon).…”

Chemical Microscopy

“…See also : 2,5,11,15,16,34,35,[37][38][39][40][41][43][44][45]47,A14,D3,E21,O16,P2,Q9,S4,V13,X10,CC10,EE18,JJ2,LL35,LL41,NN2.…”