Toxicity assessment and comparison of the land snail's Cornu aspersum responses against CuO nanoparticles and ZnO nanoparticles.

The goal of the present study was to examine the effects of ZnO NPs and CuO NPs on Cornu aspersum land snail, enlightening their cytotoxic profile. ZnO NPs and CuO NPs were synthesized and thoroughly characterized. Α series of concentrations of either ZnO NPs or CuO NPs were administered in the feed of snails for 20 days. Thereafter, neutral red retention assay was conducted, in order to estimate NRRT50 values. Subsequently, snails were fed with NPs concentrations slightly lower than the concentrations that were corresponding to the NRRT50 values, i.e. 3 mg·L ZnO NPs and 6 mg·L CuO NPs, for 1, 5, 10 and 20 days. Both NPs agglomerates were detected in hemocytes by Transmission Electron Microscopy. Moreover, both effectors resulted to toxicity in the snails' hemocytes. The latter was shown by changes in the NRRT50 values, increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, lipid peroxidation, DNA integrity loss, protein carbonyl content, ubiquitin conjugates and cleaved caspases conjugates levels compared to the untreated animals. Although ZnO NPs exhibited higher toxicity, as indicated by the NRRT50 values, both NPs affected similarly a wide range of the cellular parameters mentioned above. The latter parameters could constitute sensitive biomarkers in biomonitoring studies of terrestrial environment against nanoparticles.