Chen Zi-Yu, Yang Yi-Chun, Wang Bour-Jr, Cheng Fong-Yu, Lee Yen-Ling, Lee Yu-Hsuan, Wang Ying-Jan
Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan; Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Tainan 70428, Taiwan; Department of Cosmetic Science and Institute of Cosmetic Science, Chia Nan University of Pharmacy and Science, Tainan 71710, Taiwan.
Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 2022 Sep 15;243:113967. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2022.113967. Epub 2022 Aug 17.
Nanotechnology allows for a greater quality of life, but may also cause environmental and organismic harm. Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) are one of the most commonly used metal oxide nanoparticles for commercial and industrial products. Due to its extensive use in various fields, there has already been much concern raised about the environmental health risks of ZnONPs. Many studies have investigated the toxicological profile of ZnONPs in zebrafish embryonic development; however, the specific characteristics of ZnONPs in zebrafish embryonic/larval developmental damage and their molecular toxic mechanisms of liver development are yet to be fully elucidated. This study aimed to reveal the hazard ranking of different surface modifications of ZnONPs on developing zebrafish and the toxicological mechanisms of these modified ZnONPs in liver tissue. The ~30 nm ZnONPs with amino- (NH- ZnONPs) or carboxyl- (COOH-ZnONPs) modification were incorporated during the embryonic/larval stage of zebrafish. Severe toxicity was observed in both ZnONP groups, especially NH-ZnONPs, which presented a higher toxicity in the low concentration groups. After prolonging the exposure time, the long-term toxicity assay showed a greater retardation in body length of zebrafish in the NH-ZnONP group. Response data from multiple toxicity studies was integrated for the calculation of the EC values of bulk ZnO and ZnONPs, and the hazard levels were found to be decreasing in the order of NH-, COOH-ZnONPs and bulk ZnO. Notably, NH-ZnONPs induced ROS burden in the developing liver tissue, which activated autophagy-related gene and protein expression and finally induced liver cell apoptosis to reduce liver size. In conclusion, our findings are conducive to understanding the hazard risks of different surface modifications of ZnONPs in aquatic environments and will also be helpful for choosing the type of ZnONPs in future industrial applications.
纳米技术有助于提高生活质量，但也可能对环境和生物体造成危害。氧化锌纳米颗粒（ZnONPs）是商业和工业产品中最常用的金属氧化物纳米颗粒之一。由于其在各个领域的广泛应用，人们已经对ZnONPs的环境健康风险提出了诸多关注。许多研究调查了ZnONPs在斑马鱼胚胎发育中的毒理学特征；然而，ZnONPs在斑马鱼胚胎/幼体发育损伤中的具体特性及其肝脏发育的分子毒性机制尚未完全阐明。本研究旨在揭示不同表面修饰的ZnONPs对发育中的斑马鱼的危害等级以及这些修饰的ZnONPs在肝脏组织中的毒理学机制。在斑马鱼的胚胎/幼体阶段加入了氨基修饰的~30 nm ZnONPs（NH-ZnONPs）或羧基修饰的ZnONPs（COOH-ZnONPs）。在两个ZnONP组中均观察到严重毒性，尤其是NH-ZnONPs，在低浓度组中表现出更高的毒性。延长暴露时间后，长期毒性试验显示NH-ZnONP组斑马鱼的体长有更大的生长迟缓。整合多个毒性研究的响应数据以计算块状ZnO和ZnONPs的EC值，发现危害水平按NH-ZnONPs、COOH-ZnONPs和块状ZnO的顺序降低。值得注意的是，NH-ZnONPs在发育中的肝脏组织中诱导ROS负荷，激活自噬相关基因和蛋白表达，最终诱导肝细胞凋亡以减小肝脏大小。总之，我们的研究结果有助于了解ZnONPs不同表面修饰在水生环境中的危害风险，也将有助于未来工业应用中ZnONPs类型的选择。
