Antioxidative stress response of Lepidium sativum due to exposure to cyanobacterial secondary metabolites.

Agricultural plants can come in contact with cyanobacterial toxins via spray irrigation techniques. After uptake in the plants, cyanobacterial toxins are able to induce oxidative stress via the enhanced production of reactive oxygen species. If the initiated oxidation processes proceeds uninhibited, extensive cellular damage might occur like DNA damage, protein inhibition or lipid peroxidation. The results provide further evidence that cyanobacterial toxins as well as cyanobacterial crude extract containing microcystins-LR induce oxidative stress response in Lepidium sativum seedlings, manifested by lipid peroxidation, elevation of alpha- and beta-tocopherol concentrations and elevated activities of antioxidative enzymes like the glutathione peroxidase, glutathione S-transferase and glutathione reductase.