hrvatski

Utjecaj nanočestica srebra na reprodukciju vrste Enchytraeus albidus

Due to the antimicrobial properties of silver, its nanoparticles have soon found their wide use. Despite that, their effect has been insufficiently researched. Nanoparticles can be easily transmitted to water systems, which leads to a greater risk of soil contamination. Because of their ability to enter cells and cause the interaction with cell structures, it is important to understand their behavior and destiny in the ecosystem. The aim of this research was to explore how different sizes of silver nanoparticles can influence the reproduction in the E.albidus species. Organisms are exposed to nanoparticles of 35, 50-60 and 150nm size, as well as with silver nitrate (AgNO3), which served as control. As expected, AgNO3 showed toxicity even in considerably lower concentration than nanoparticles. Considering that it has been proposed that the size and the shape are the crucial aspects of toxicity because they affect the manner of organism entrance, these results can be explained by the slower release of silver ion from nanoparticles, or with the reduced entrance to the organism due to size. Nanoparticles of 150nm size have shown the greatest toxicity among nanoparticles. Even though previous research has shown that smaller nanoparticles cause greater toxicity, these results can be explained by a greater amount of ions released to the soil.

silver, nanoparticles, size, reproduction, E.albidus

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