Accumulation of chromium in root tissues of Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms. in Cachoeira river—Brazil P.A.O. Mangabeira a,* , L. Labejof a , A. Lamperti d , A-A.F. de Almeida a , A.H. Oliveira c , F. Escaig b , M.I.G. Severo a , D. da C. Silva a , M. Saloes a , M.S. Mielke a , E.R. Lucena a , M.C. Martins a , K.B. Santana a , K.L. Gavrilov b , P. Galle b , R. Levi-Setti b a Department of Biology, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz (UESC), Rodovia Ilhe ´us Itabuna, Km 16, CEP 45650000 Bahia, Brazil b Enrico Fermi Institute, University of Chicago, Illinois-EUA, Chicago, IL 60637, USA c Department of Nuclear Engineering, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Av. do Contorno 842, CEP 30110060 Belo Horizonte, Brazil d INFM—Dipartimento di Fisica & LAMINA, Universita ` Degli Study di Milano, Via Celoria 16, Milano 120133, Italy Available online 24 May 2004 Abstract Heavy metals are not biodegradable and enter the food chain through a number of pathways causing progressive toxic actions due to the accumulation in different organs during a life span and long-term exposure to contaminated environments. Secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) were used to localize chromium in Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms. ICP-MS was used for the determination of Cr concentrations in water, sediments and plant samples in the Cachoeira basin, Bahia, Brazil. The results obtained by ICP-MS shows abnormally high values of Cr concentrations in water samples (0.38 mg/l), in soil samples (63 mg/g) and 70 mg/g in plant tissue. SIMS results show increased levels of Cr in the root cell wall and xylem vessel, these sites show high Cr accumulation. The ICP-MS data confirm E. crassipes like bioindicator plant. Chemical analysis using ICP-MS, confirms SIMS analysis on the presence of Cr in roots xylem cell walls. The use of ICP-MS, to investigate the same organs as the ones investigated by SIMS, provided complementary results on chromium study. # 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: SIMS; Chromium; ICP-MS 1. Introduction In the past few years, metal pollution has become one of the most important environmental problems. Concerning the high toxicity of these elements, both sensitive analytical measurements and methods for the control of the ecosystem are required to reveal and localize metals on organisms. Due to high transportation rates and exchange phenomena of sediment bound metals and changes of imis- sion concentrations, the estimation of pollution in Applied Surface Science 231–232 (2004) 497–501 * Corresponding author. E-mail address: paom@uesc.br (P.A.O. Mangabeira). 0169-4332/$ – see front matter # 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.apsusc.2004.03.195