Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences, University of Messina, Viale F. Stagno d'Alcontres n. 31, 98166 Messina, Italy.
Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences, University of Messina, Viale F. Stagno d'Alcontres n. 31, 98166 Messina, Italy.
Aquat Toxicol. 2018 Aug;201:187-197. doi: 10.1016/j.aquatox.2018.06.010. Epub 2018 Jun 14.
Copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO NPs) are widely used in various industrial applications, i.e. semiconductor devices, batteries, solar energy converter, gas sensor, microelectronics, heat transfer fluids, and have been recently recognized as emerging pollutants of increasing concern for human and marine environmental health. Therefore, the toxicity of CuO NPs needs to be thoroughly understood. In this study, we evaluated the potential role of oxidative stress in CuO NP toxicity by exploring the molecular response of Arbacia lixula embryos to three CuO NP concentrations (0.7, 10, 20 ppb) by investigating the transcriptional patterns of oxidative stress-related genes (catalase and superoxide dismutase) and metallothionein, here cloned and characterized for the first time. Time- and concentration-dependent changes in gene expression were detected in A. lixula embryos exposed to CuO NPs, up to pluteus stage (72 h post-fertilization, hpf), indicating that oxidative stress is one of the toxicity mechanisms for CuO NPs. These findings provide new insights into the comprehension of the molecular mechanisms underlying copper nanoparticle toxicity in A. lixula sea urchin and give new tools for monitoring of aquatic areas, thus corroborating the suitability of this embryotoxicity assay for future evaluation of impacted sites.
氧化铜纳米粒子（CuO NPs）广泛应用于各种工业应用中，例如半导体器件、电池、太阳能转换器、气体传感器、微电子、传热流体，并且最近已被认为是对人类和海洋环境健康日益关注的新兴污染物。因此，需要彻底了解 CuO NPs 的毒性。在这项研究中，我们通过研究氧化应激相关基因（过氧化氢酶和超氧化物歧化酶）和金属硫蛋白的转录模式，评估了氧化应激在 CuO NP 毒性中的潜在作用，这些基因首次被克隆和表征。暴露于 CuO NPs 的 A. lixula 胚胎中检测到基因表达的时间和浓度依赖性变化，直至幼体阶段（受精后 72 小时），这表明氧化应激是 CuO NPs 毒性的机制之一。这些发现为理解 A. lixula 海胆中铜纳米颗粒毒性的分子机制提供了新的见解，并为监测水生区域提供了新的工具，从而证实了这种胚胎毒性测定法在未来评估受影响地点方面的适用性。
