Nanomaterial Toxicology Group, Indian Institute of Toxicology Research (CSIR), P.O. Box 80, Mahatma Gandhi Marg, Lucknow 226001, India.
J Biomed Nanotechnol. 2011 Feb;7(1):116-7. doi: 10.1166/jbn.2011.1229.
During the last decade, advancement of nanotechnology has revolutionized various fields such as electronics, optics, materials science as well as architecture, and medicine. However, their health and environmental impact is not fully understood. TiO2 and ZnO nanoparticles (NPs), which are abundantly used for commercial purposes, pose a great risk to environment. In this context, we examined the adverse effects of TiO2 and ZnO NPs of < 25 nm and < 100 nm sizes to nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. < 25 nm TiO2 and ZnO NPs showed LC50 of 77 mg/L and 0.32 mg/L respectively, while < 100 nm TiO2 NPs were non-toxic and LC50 of 2 mg/L was obtained for < 100 nm ZnO NPs. Our studies indicate that in both cases, smaller particle sizes are more toxic than larger NPs and ZnO NPs are more toxic than TiO2 NPs. Further, we observed low LC50 values for ZnO NPs, probably reflecting the sensitivity of C. elegans as a model for eco-toxicity studies of NPs.
在过去的十年中，纳米技术的进步彻底改变了电子、光学、材料科学以及建筑和医学等各个领域。然而，人们对它们的健康和环境影响还没有完全了解。TiO2 和 ZnO 纳米颗粒（NPs）广泛用于商业用途，对环境构成了巨大威胁。在这种情况下，我们研究了 < 25nm 和 < 100nm 大小的 TiO2 和 ZnO NPs 对秀丽隐杆线虫的不良影响。< 25nm TiO2 和 ZnO NPs 的 LC50 分别为 77mg/L 和 0.32mg/L，而 < 100nm TiO2 NPs 则没有毒性，< 100nm ZnO NPs 的 LC50 为 2mg/L。我们的研究表明，在这两种情况下，较小的颗粒尺寸比较大的 NPs 更具毒性，而且 ZnO NPs 比 TiO2 NPs 更具毒性。此外，我们观察到 ZnO NPs 的 LC50 值较低，这可能反映了秀丽隐杆线虫作为 NPs 生态毒性研究模型的敏感性。
