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Toxicity, Bioaccumulation and Biotransformation of Silver Nanoparticles in Marine Organisms
Citation:
Wang, H., Kay T. Ho, Kirk G. Scheckel, F. Wu, Mark G. Cantwell, David R. Katz, Doranne Borsay Horowitz, Warren S. Boothman, AND Robert M. Burgess. Toxicity, Bioaccumulation and Biotransformation of Silver Nanoparticles in Marine Organisms. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY. American Chemical Society, Washington, DC, 48(23):13711-13717, (2014).
Impact/Purpose:
This research brings new information concerning the movement and speciation of Ag and Ti engineered nanoparticles in marine systems. It shows that differently capped Ag nanomaterials move and are speciated differently within marine worms, and that the movement and speciation of Ag nanoparticles is different than ionic silver. Research of this type supports regulating nanoparticles differently than ionic silver.
Description:
The toxicity, bioaccumulation and biotransformation of citrate and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) capped silver nanoparticles (NPs) (AgNP-citrate and AgNP-PVP) and titanium dioxide (TiO2) NPs in marine organisms via marine sediment exposure were investigated. Results from 7-d sediment toxicity tests indicate that the three types of NPs had no effect on the survival of the amphipod (Ampelisca abdita) and mysid (Americamysis bahia). A 28-d bioaccumulation study showed that Ag was significantly accumulated in the marine polychaete Nereis virens (N. virens) with AgNP-citrate, AgNP-PVP and AgNO3 treatments. Synchrotron X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) results showed that in marine sediments spiked with AgNP-citrate, AgNP-PVP and AgNO3 the order of % Ag species was AgCl (50-65%) > Ag2S (32-42%) > Ag metal (3-11%), but in N. virens the percent of Ag metal increased to 32-44% while that of AgCl and Ag2S decreased to 25-59% and 10-31%, respectively. These results show that AgNPs were transformed largely to AgCl in marine sediments, but were biotransformed to Ag metal in N. virens. The AgNP surface capping agents influenced Ag biotransformation. In addition, titanium concentrations also increased in N. virens. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of the speciation of AgNP in marine sediments as well as aspects of the toxicity, bioaccumulation and speciation of Ag and TiO2 NPs in marine organisms . This research enhances our understanding of the environmental and ecological impacts of these NPs in the marine environment.
