Lin Sijie, Taylor Alicia A, Ji Zhaoxia, Chang Chong Hyun, Kinsinger Nichola M, Ueng William, Walker Sharon L, Nel André E
Center for Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology, California NanoSystems Institute, University of California, Los Angeles , Los Angeles, California 90095, United States.
ACS Nano. 2015 Feb 24;9(2):2038-48. doi: 10.1021/nn507216f. Epub 2015 Feb 2.
Although copper-containing nanoparticles are used in commercial products such as fungicides and bactericides, we presently do not understand the environmental impact on other organisms that may be inadvertently exposed. In this study, we used the zebrafish embryo as a screening tool to study the potential impact of two nano Cu-based materials, CuPRO and Kocide, in comparison to nanosized and micron-sized Cu and CuO particles in their pristine form (0-10 ppm) as well as following their transformation in an experimental wastewater treatment system. This was accomplished by construction of a modeled domestic septic tank system from which effluents could be retrieved at different stages following particle introduction (10 ppm). The Cu speciation in the effluent was identified as nondissolvable inorganic Cu(H2PO2)2 and nondiffusible organic Cu by X-ray diffraction, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), diffusive gradients in thin-films (DGT), and Visual MINTEQ software. While the nanoscale materials, including the commercial particles, were clearly more potent (showing 50% hatching interference above 0.5 ppm) than the micron-scale particulates with no effect on hatching up to 10 ppm, the Cu released from the particles in the septic tank underwent transformation into nonbioavailable species that failed to interfere with the function of the zebrafish embryo hatching enzyme. Moreover, we demonstrate that the addition of humic acid, as an organic carbon component, could lead to a dose-dependent decrease in Cu toxicity in our high content zebrafish embryo screening assay. Thus, the use of zebrafish embryo screening, in combination with the effluents obtained from a modeled exposure environment, enables a bioassay approach to follow the change in the speciation and hazard potential of Cu particles instead of difficult-to-perform direct particle tracking.
尽管含铜纳米颗粒被用于杀菌剂等商业产品中，但目前我们并不了解其对可能意外接触到的其他生物的环境影响。在本研究中，我们使用斑马鱼胚胎作为筛选工具，研究了两种纳米铜基材料CuPRO和Kocide的潜在影响，并将其与原始形态（0 - 10 ppm）的纳米级和微米级铜及氧化铜颗粒进行了比较，同时还研究了它们在实验性废水处理系统中的转化情况。这是通过构建一个模拟家庭化粪池系统来实现的，在引入颗粒（10 ppm）后的不同阶段可以从中获取流出物。通过X射线衍射、电感耦合等离子体质谱（ICP - MS）、薄膜扩散梯度（DGT）和Visual MINTEQ软件，确定了流出物中的铜形态为不可溶解的无机Cu(H2PO2)2和不可扩散的有机铜。虽然包括商业颗粒在内的纳米级材料明显比微米级颗粒更具毒性（在0.5 ppm以上显示出50%的孵化干扰），微米级颗粒在高达10 ppm时对孵化没有影响，但化粪池中颗粒释放的铜会转化为无生物可利用性的物种，不会干扰斑马鱼胚胎孵化酶的功能。此外，我们证明，在我们的高含量斑马鱼胚胎筛选试验中，添加腐殖酸作为有机碳成分会导致铜毒性呈剂量依赖性降低。因此，将斑马鱼胚胎筛选与从模拟暴露环境中获得的流出物相结合，能够采用生物测定方法来跟踪铜颗粒的形态变化和潜在危害，而不是进行难以实施的直接颗粒追踪。
