The impact of contaminated water with pharmaceutical hazards on the Vicia faba plant cell's components and mitosis behavior

Abstract Introduction Paracetamol may have its potential risk to ecosystem when pollute water resources around the hospitals and medicines’ factories areas. Water recycling systems are admitted for irrigation purposes to cover the high needs in water demands. The pharmaceutical hazards in the recycled water should be investigated for its effect on plants’ stability and performance. Method This work carried the cytogenetics and cytological studies to visualize the plants performance under paracetamol stress in four concentrations (0, 6, 12.5, 25 and 50%) in two treatment times 3 & 6 h. On the other hand, the recovery experiment for 24 h after treatment was carried to precise the plant cure status. The study is also supported with TEM (transmission electronic microscope) descriptive investigations to many vital cytoplasmic organelles that affect the plant responses, adaptation, energy level and all metabolic process. Results Despite that, the higher used concentration has its cytotoxic and turbo-genic impacts yet, it did not represent any mutagenic threat. It exerted an oxidative stress, chromosomes aberrations (stickiness and disturbances) and genotoxicity (fragmentation) in Vicia faba plant cells. The recovery treatment demonstrated the flexibility of plant detoxification systems to survive and to retain some of its fitness after the influencer disappears. Conclusion Paracetamol affected Vicia faba plant cells in a dose-dependent manner and induced oxidative stress and genotoxicity in Vicia faba plant cells. Therefore, it is important to monitor and regulate the presence of paracetamol in the environment and to develop effective strategies for their removal or degradation from the recycled water as a previous step before being used in plants irrigation. Graphical abstract