Tyagi Lavista, Kadono Hirofumi, Rajagopalan Uma Maheswari
Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Saitama University, 255 Shimo-Okubo, Sakura-Ku, Saitama 338-8570, Japan.
Innovative Global Program, Shibaura Institute of Technology, 3-7-5 Toyosu, Koto-ku, Tokyo 135-8548, Japan.
Nanomaterials (Basel). 2025 Aug 8;15(16):1214. doi: 10.3390/nano15161214.
Significant concerns regarding the impact of copper (Cu) and copper oxide (CuO) nanoparticles (NPs) and microparticles (MPs) on plant systems have been brought to light through the growing use of these materials in industry and agriculture. The properties of NPs are critical in determining their uptake by plant cells and the ensuing effects on plant physiology. This emphasizes the need for accurate monitoring techniques to determine the impact caused by NPs on seed development and plant growth. This study uses foliar exposure at 0 and 100 mg/L, as well as seed exposure at 0, 25, and 100 mg/L, to explore the effects of Cu (<10-25 μm; 25 nm) and CuO (<10 µm; <50 nm) NPs and MPs on lentil (). Biospeckle optical coherence tomography (bOCT) was employed to monitor internal physiological activity in real time, non-invasively-capabilities that static imaging methods, such as OCT, are unable to provide. Results showed that exposure to Cu and CuO NPs led to significant reductions in biospeckle contrast, indicating heightened physiological stress, while MPs generally produced minimal or even positive effects. These early changes detected by bOCT within just 6 h of exposure were consistent with traditional morphological and biochemical assessments-such as germination rate, growth, biomass, and catalase activity-that typically require several days to detect. The study demonstrates that bOCT enables the rapid, functional assessment of nanomaterial effects, including those resulting from foliar exposure, thereby offering a powerful tool for early and non-destructive evaluation of plant responses to engineered particles in agricultural contexts.
随着铜（Cu）和氧化铜（CuO）纳米颗粒（NPs）及微米颗粒（MPs）在工农业中的使用日益增加，人们对它们对植物系统的影响产生了重大担忧。纳米颗粒的特性对于确定其被植物细胞吸收以及随后对植物生理的影响至关重要。这凸显了需要精确的监测技术来确定纳米颗粒对种子发育和植物生长所造成的影响。本研究采用0和100 mg/L的叶面暴露，以及0、25和100 mg/L的种子暴露，来探究Cu（<10 - 25μm；25 nm）和CuO（<10μm；<50 nm）纳米颗粒及微米颗粒对小扁豆的影响。生物散斑光学相干断层扫描（bOCT）被用于实时、非侵入性地监测内部生理活动，而诸如OCT等静态成像方法无法提供这些功能。结果表明，暴露于Cu和CuO纳米颗粒会导致生物散斑对比度显著降低，表明生理压力增加，而微米颗粒通常产生最小甚至积极的影响。在暴露仅6小时内通过bOCT检测到的这些早期变化与传统的形态学和生化评估结果一致，如发芽率、生长、生物量和过氧化氢酶活性，而这些传统评估通常需要几天时间才能检测到。该研究表明，bOCT能够对纳米材料的影响进行快速、功能性评估，包括叶面暴露产生的影响，从而为农业环境中植物对工程颗粒的反应提供了一种早期和非破坏性评估的强大工具。
