Key Laboratory of Environmental Medicine Engineering in Ministry of Education, Medical School of Southeast University, Nanjing 210009, China.
Chemosphere. 2013 Jan;90(3):1123-31. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2012.09.019. Epub 2012 Oct 9.
Nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has been developed in a variety of environmental studies to address adverse effects of a wide range of toxicants. In the present study, we compared the toxicities of three metal oxide nanoparticles (NPs) including TiO(2)-NPs, ZnO-NPs, and SiO(2)-NPs with the same nanosize (30 nm) after prolonged exposure from L1-larvae to adult at environmental relevant concentrations. Our data indicated that the adverse effects were detected in nematodes exposed to TiO(2)-NPs and ZnO-NPs at concentrations more than 0.05 μg/L and SiO(2)-NPs at concentrations more than 5 μg/L with locomotion behavior and ROS production as endpoints. With growth, locomotion behavior, reproduction, and ROS production as endpoints, toxicity order for the examined metal oxide NPs was: ZnO-NPs>TiO(2)-NPs>SiO(2)-NPs. In nematodes exposed to the examined metal oxide NPs, ROS production was significantly correlated with lethality, growth, reproduction, and locomotion behavior. Moreover, treatment with antioxidants of ascorbate or NAC effectively inhibited the formation of oxidative stress and retrieved the adverse effects of TiO(2)-NPs, ZnO-NPs, and SiO(2)-NPs on survival, growth, reproduction and locomotion behaviors in nematodes. Our data demonstrated the subtle toxicity differences of different NPs exposure at environmental relevant concentrations in C. elegans.
秀丽隐杆线虫已被广泛应用于各种环境研究中，以评估多种有毒物质的不良影响。在本研究中，我们比较了三种金属氧化物纳米颗粒（NPs），包括 TiO2-NPs、ZnO-NPs 和 SiO2-NPs，在环境相关浓度下从 L1 幼虫持续暴露至成虫后，它们的毒性。我们的数据表明，当暴露于浓度超过 0.05 μg/L 的 TiO2-NPs 和 ZnO-NPs，以及浓度超过 5 μg/L 的 SiO2-NPs 时，线虫的运动行为和 ROS 产生等终点会检测到不良影响。以生长、运动行为、繁殖和 ROS 产生为终点，所检测的金属氧化物 NPs 的毒性顺序为：ZnO-NPs>TiO2-NPs>SiO2-NPs。在暴露于所检测的金属氧化物 NPs 的线虫中，ROS 产生与致死率、生长、繁殖和运动行为显著相关。此外，抗氧化剂抗坏血酸或 NAC 的处理可有效抑制氧化应激的形成，并恢复 TiO2-NPs、ZnO-NPs 和 SiO2-NPs 对线虫存活、生长、繁殖和运动行为的不良影响。我们的数据表明，在秀丽隐杆线虫中，不同 NPs 在环境相关浓度下的暴露存在细微的毒性差异。
