Aristolochic acid I: an investigation into the role of food crops contamination, as a potential natural exposure pathway.

Aristolochic acid I (AAI) is a potent nephrotoxic and carcinogenic compound produced by plants of the Aristolochiaceae family and thoroughly investigated as a main culprit in the etiology of Balkan endemic nephropathy (BEN). So far, the AAI exposure was demonstrated to occur through the consumption of Aristolochia clematitis plants as traditional remedies, and through the contamination of the surrounding environment in endemic areas: soil, food and water contamination. Our study investigated for the first time the level of AAI contamination in 141 soil and vegetable samples from two cultivated gardens in non-endemic areas, A. clematitis being present in only one of the gardens. We developed and validated a simple and sensitive ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-ion trap mass spectrometry method for qualitative and quantitative AAI analysis. The results confirmed the presence of AAI at nanogram levels in soil and vegetable samples collected from the non-endemic garden, where A. clematitis grows. These findings provide additional evidence that the presence of A. clematitis can cause food crops and soil contamination and unveil the pathway through which AAI could move from A. clematitis to other plant species via a common matrix: the soil. Another issue regarding the presence of AAI, in a non-endemic BEN area from Romania, could underlie a more widespread environmental exposure to AAI and explain certain BEN-like cases in areas where BEN has not been initially described.