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Comparative toxicity of metal oxide nanoparticles (CuO, ZnO and TiO2) to developing zebrafish embryos

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Abstract

Increasing use of nanomaterials is resulting in their release into the environment, making necessary to determine the toxicity of these materials. With this aim, the effects of CuO, ZnO and TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) on zebrafish development were assessed in comparison with the effects caused by the ionic forms (for copper and zinc), bulk counterparts and the stabilizer used for rutile TiO2 NPs. None of the NPs caused significant embryo mortality. CuO NPs were the most toxic affecting hatching and increasing malformation prevalence (≥1 mg Cu/L), followed by ZnO NPs that affected hatching at ≥5 mg Zn/L and stabilized TiO2 NPs that caused mortality and decreased hatching at 100 mg Ti/L. Exposure to the stabilizer alone provoked the same effect. Thus, toxicity of the TiO2 NP suspension can be linked to the surfactant. For all the endpoints, the greatest effects were exerted by the ionic forms, followed by the NPs and finally by the bulk compounds. By autometallography, metal-bearing deposits were observed in embryos exposed to CuO and ZnO NPs, being more abundant in the case of embryos exposed to CuO NPs. The largest and most abundant metal-bearing deposits were detected in embryos exposed to ionic copper. In conclusion, metal oxide NPs affected zebrafish development altering hatching and increasing the prevalence of malformations. Thus, the use and release of metal oxide NPs to the environment may pose a risk to aquatic organisms as a result of the toxicity caused by NPs themselves or by the additives used in their production.

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Acknowledgments

This work has been funded by the European Commission’s Seventh Framework Programme (Grant agreement no° 214478, project NanoReTox), the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN) (Nanocancer project CTM2009-13477), the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) through a PhD fellowship to UVP and UFI 11/37 and Basque Government through a grant to consolidated research groups (GIC07/26-IT-393-07 and IT810-13). Laura-Jayne Ellis at the University of Birmingham is thanked for supplying the TEM image of ZnO nanoparticles.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CBET Research Group, Department Zoology and Animal Cell Biology; Research Centre for Experimental Marine Biology and Biotechnology PIE and Science and Technology Faculty, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Sarriena z/g, 48940 Leioa, Basque Country, Spain

    Unai Vicario-Parés, Luis Castañaga, Jose Maria Lacave, Miren P. Cajaraville & Amaia Orbea

  2. AHAVA Dead Sea Laboratories, M.P Dead Sea, 86983, Holon, Israel

    Miriam Oron

  3. Intrinsiq Materials Ltd, Cody Technology Park, Hampshire, GU14 0LX, UK

    Paul Reip

  4. Earth Sciences, Natural History Museum London, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD, UK

    Deborah Berhanu & Eugenia Valsami-Jones

  5. School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B5 2TT, UK

    Eugenia Valsami-Jones

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  1. Unai Vicario-Parés
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  2. Luis Castañaga
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  3. Jose Maria Lacave
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Correspondence to Amaia Orbea.

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Vicario-Parés, U., Castañaga, L., Lacave, J.M. et al. Comparative toxicity of metal oxide nanoparticles (CuO, ZnO and TiO2) to developing zebrafish embryos. J Nanopart Res 16, 2550 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-014-2550-8

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