Dipartimento per lo Studio del Territorio e delle sue Risorse, Università di Genova, Italy.
Mar Environ Res. 2012 May;76:114-21. doi: 10.1016/j.marenvres.2011.10.003. Epub 2011 Nov 3.
The potential toxicity of stannum dioxide (SnO₂), cerium dioxide (CeO₂) and iron oxide (Fe₃O₄) nanoparticles (NPs) in the marine environment was investigated using the sea urchin, Paracentrotus lividus, as an in vivo model. We found that 5 days after force-feeding of NPs in aqueous solutions, the three NPs presented different toxicity degrees, depending on the considered biomarkers. We examined: 1) the presence of the NPs in the coelomic fluid and the uptake into the immune cells (coelomocytes); 2) the cholinesterase activity and the expression of the stress-related proteins HSC70 and GRP78; 3) the morphological changes affecting cellular compartments, such as the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and lysosomes. By Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope (ESEM) analysis, coupled with Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) we found that NPs were uptaken inside coelomocytes. The cholinesterases activity, a well known marker of blood intoxication in vertebrates, was greatly reduced in specimens exposed to NPs. We found that levels of stress proteins were down-regulated, matching the observed ER and lysosomes morphological alterations. In conclusion, this is the first study which utilizes the sea urchin as a model organism for biomonitoring the biological impact of NPs and supports the efficacy of the selected biomarkers.
使用海洋生物海胆作为体内模型，研究了二氧化锡（SnO₂）、二氧化铈（CeO₂）和三氧化二铁（Fe₃O₄）纳米颗粒（NPs）在海洋环境中的潜在毒性。我们发现，在以水溶液形式强制投喂 NPs 5 天后，这三种 NPs 根据所考虑的生物标志物表现出不同的毒性程度。我们研究了以下方面：1） NPs 在体腔液中的存在及其被免疫细胞（体腔细胞）摄取的情况；2） 乙酰胆碱酯酶活性和应激相关蛋白 HSC70 和 GRP78 的表达情况；3） 影响细胞区室（如内质网（ER）和溶酶体）的形态变化。通过环境扫描电子显微镜（ESEM）分析，并结合能量色散 X 射线能谱（EDS），我们发现 NPs 被摄取到体腔细胞内。乙酰胆碱酯酶活性是脊椎动物血液中毒的一个众所周知的标志物，在暴露于 NPs 的标本中其活性大大降低。我们发现应激蛋白水平下调，与观察到的 ER 和溶酶体形态改变相匹配。总之，这是首次利用海胆作为生物监测模型来研究 NPs 对生物的影响的研究，支持了所选生物标志物的有效性。
