Conducting a battery of bioassays for gold nanoparticles to derive guideline value for the protection of aquatic ecosystems

Abstract

Gold nanoparticles (Au-NPs) are used in many applications, including the manufacture of products like cosmetics, paints, and electrochemical immunosensors, and in the detection, diagnosis, and treatment of tumors. However, there are no legal or recommended guidelines for protecting aquatic ecosystems from Au-NPs. In this study, we conducted a battery of bioassays and present toxicity values for two bacteria, one alga, one euglena, three cladoceran, and two fish species that were exposed to Au-NPs. Guideline values for protecting aquatic ecosystems from Au-NPs were derived using methods that are generally used to derive water-quality guidelines and are used in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the European Community (EC), and the USA. Au-NPs had adverse effects on all test species, including growth inhibition of both bacteria, the alga, and the euglena; mortality and immobilization in the three cladocerans; and developmental malformations in the embryos and larvae of the two fish. Guideline values of 0.15 and 0.04 × 10¹⁰ particles/mL were derived for Au-NPs using a species sensitivity distribution (SSD) and assessment factor. The guideline value derived for Au-NPs using an assessment factor was more stringent than that derived using SSD. This is the first study to derive guideline values for nanoparticles in water environments.

• A battery of bioassays
• aquatic ecosystem
• ecotoxicology
• gold nanoparticles
• guidelines
• nanoparticles
• nanotoxicology
• risk assessment

Acknowledgements

We thank the National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER) for providing Oryzias latipes and Daphnia magna and for the ELS analyses, and the Korea Institute of Toxicology (KIT) for providing Moina macrocopa and Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata. We also thank Prof. Seung Myeong Yoon of Chosun University for identifying Simocephalus mixtus, and the Korea Basic Science Institute (KBSI) for the TEM analyses.

Declaration of interest

This work was supported by a National Research Foundation Grant funded by the Korean Government (NRF 2011-001-5985).

Supplementary material available online Supplementary Tables 1–3 Supplementary Figures 1–7