Effects of Ag nanoparticles on survival and oxygen consumption of zebra fish embryos, Danio rerio

Abstract

Ultrafine silver (Ag) particles, defined as having one dimension in 1–100 nanometer (nm) size range, pose a unique threat to aquatic ecosystems due to their wide use in the healthcare and commercial industries. Previous studies have demonstrated some consequences of nanosilver exposure for earlier life stages of aquatic organisms, but few focus on the effects on metabolic processes such as oxygen consumption. Additionally, few authors have tackled the issue of how size, shape and composition of nanosilver particles are important in determining their level of bioactivity and biodistribution in the aquatic environment. In this study, embryos of the zebra fish, Danio rerio, (n = 2373) were exposed to varying concentrations of two Ag particle sizes, 12 and 21 nm, at time points 24 and 48 h after fertilization. The 12 nm particles were found to be more bioactive with a lethal dose 50 (LD₅₀) concentration of 15.8 μg/mL compared to 50.1 μg/mL for 21 nm particles. The effective dose level (ED) was measured as 12.6 μg/mL for the 12 nm particles and 5.0 μg/mL for the 21 nm particles. Using survival curves, we found that in terms of number of particles in suspension, 21 nm particles have a greater impact on survival than 12 nm particles. Our measured respiration rates for 24 and 48 h embryos (n = 528) exposed to 0 0.02–0.14 mg/mL Ag showed no active upregulation of an energetically expensive detoxification pathway at this early point in development. Results from this study illustrate that advancements in the development of environmentally friendly nanoparticles can only occur if there is continued research to identify the most bioactive characteristics of these metallic particles.

Keywords:

• Silver
• nanoparticles
• zebra fish
• development
• respiration
• metabolism

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a University of Delaware Scholar's Fellowship to D.A. Cowart and by Delaware Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) with funds from the National Science Foundation (EPS-0447610) and the State of Delaware.