278
Views
24
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Articles

Nonselective uptake of silver and gold nanoparticles by wheat

, , , ORCID Icon &
Pages 1073-1086 | Received 24 Jan 2019, Accepted 02 Jun 2019, Published online: 23 Jul 2019
 

Abstract

Metallic nanoparticles (NPs) show unique reactivity to crop plants, but the uptake mechanisms remain unclear. We quantitatively evaluated the phytoavailability of particles to wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in hydroponics upon exposure to AgNPs (15 nm) or AuNPs (13 and 33 nm). Particles were physically separated from the released Ag ions by a dialysis membrane, under which particle-specific uptake of AgNPs could be discerned. Plants did not differentiate AgNPs and AuNPs during particle uptake, with uptake rate constants of 1.1 ± 0.1, 1.2 ± 0.3, and 1.2 ± 0.1 L kg−1 h−1 for AgNPs, AuNPs (13 nm), and AuNPs (33 nm), respectively. We found little effect of particle size (13 or 33 nm AuNPs) or core composition (Ag or Au) on particle bioavailability. Plants stimulated the subsequent uptake of Evans blue stain and showed cell damage in root tips. These results imply similar physiological processes involved in particle-specific uptake of AgNPs and AuNPs. The internalization of particles was further confirmed by single particle inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (spICP-MS) and transmission electron microscope-energy dispersive spectrometer (TEM-EDS) analysis. The work here builds the knowledge base for the nature of particle-specific uptake of different NP types by crop plants.

Acknowledgements

We thank the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on this work. We also thank Prof. Luis M. Nunes, University of Algarve, Portugal, for his help on statistical analysis.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province [BK20170110] and the National Natural Science Foundation of China [41430752 and 41671484].

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.