Effect of cations,including heavy metals,on cadmium uptake by Lemna polyrhiza L.

Cations, including calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, copper, iron, nickel and zinc, inhibited (up to 40%) extracellular binding and intracellular uptake of cadmium by Lemna polyrhiza in solution culture. Test plants showed a high capacity of extracellular cadmium binding which was competitively inhibited by copper, nickel and zinc; however, calcium, magnesium and potassium caused non-competitive inhibition. Iron and sodium increased K_m and decreased V_max, thereby causing mixed inhibition of extracellular binding. Intracellular cadmium uptake displayed Michaelis-Menten kinetics. It was competitively inhibited by calcium, magnesium, iron, nickel and zinc. Monovalent cations (sodium and potassium) caused non-competitive and copper caused mixed inhibition of intracellular cadmium uptake. Thus, high levels of cations and metals in the external environment should be expected to lower the cadmium accumulation efficiency of L. polyrhiza.