engleski

The use of selected marine organisms in nanoecotoxicology: experiments on mussels, sea urchins and crabs

With the growing use of nanoparticles in a broad range of industrial and consumer applications there is an increasing likelihood that such nanoparticles will enter the aquatic environment and be transported through freshwater systems, eventually reaching marine waters. Due to silver’s known antimicrobial properties and widespread use of silver nanoparticles (AgNP) in consumer products, the latter’s environmental fate and impact is therefore of particular concern. In this context, we have investigated the effect of low, environmentally-relevant, concentrations (from 1 up to 1000 μg L-1) and different sizes of AgNP (10, 20, 40, 60 and 100 nm) in selected marine invertebrates: sea urchins embryos (Arbacia lixula and Paracentrotus lividus), mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) and crabs (Carcinus aestuarii). The results have showed that 50-1000 μg L-1 AgNP have a negative effect on the sea urchin embryonal development, fertilisation success and have cytogeneotoxic potential toward sea urchin embryos. These findings were dependent on the investigated sea urchin species and the size of nanoparticles used. Mussels were sensitive to 50 μg L-1 AgNP (60 nm) showing a stress response at the entire organism level, destabilisation of hemocytes lysosomal membranes, elevation of enzymatic glutathione S-transferase activity and metallothionein content in mussel tissue. However, no effect was observed in the activity of acetylcholinesterase after AgNP treatment. AgNP concentrations from 100-1000 μg L-1 (60 nm) caused mortality in crabs, while up to 500 μg L-1 caused increased total hemocyte numbers. Thus, the selected marine organisms have shown to be useful models for investigating the toxicity of nanoparticles.

silver nanoparticle, embryo, lysosomal membrane stability, glutathione S-transferase, metallothionein

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