Abstract
Engineered nanoparticles are used at an increasing rate in both industry and medicine without fully understanding their impact on health and environment. The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is a suitable model to study the toxic effects of nanoparticles as it is amenable to comprehensive phenotyping, such as locomotion, growth, neurotoxicity and reproduction. In this study, we systematically evaluated the effects of silver (Ag) and five metal oxide nanoparticles: SiO2, CeO2, CuO, Al2O3 and TiO2. The results showed that Ag and SiO2 exposures had the most toxic effects on locomotion velocity, growth and reproduction, whereas CeO2, Al2O3 and CuO exposures were mostly neurotoxic. We further performed RNAseq to compare the gene expression profiles underlying Ag and SiO2toxicities. Gene set enrichment analyses revealed that exposures to Ag and SiO2consistently downregulated several biological processes (regulations in locomotion, reproductive process and cell growth) and pathways (neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction, wnt and MAPK signaling, etc.), with opposite effects on genes involved in innate immunity. Our results contribute to mechanistic insights into toxicity of Ag and SiO2 nanoparticles and demonstrated that C. elegans as a valuable model for nanotoxicity assessment.
Highlights
The use of engineered nanoparticles has increased enormously over the last decade, and the nanotechnology industry has grown from a 10-billion-dollar enterprise in 2012 to being valued over one trillion dollars in 2015 (Gao et al, 2011)
The pooled average locomotion velocity for C. elegans grown under control conditions was 150.1 μm/s across all treatments, indicating that worms are active after growth
The average locomotion velocity of worms decreased to 91.5 μm/s in the presence of 10 μg/ml Ag nanoparticles and further reduced to 44.2 μm/s in the presence of 50 μg/ml Ag nanoparticles, which was statistically significant for each concentration (P = 0.0001 and P < 0.0001, respectively) (Fig. 1A)
Summary
The use of engineered nanoparticles has increased enormously over the last decade, and the nanotechnology industry has grown from a 10-billion-dollar enterprise in 2012 to being valued over one trillion dollars in 2015 (Gao et al, 2011). The potential impacts of these nanoparticles on environment and animals have not been fully characterized and further research is warranted. Nanoparticles are defined as particulate matter ranging from 1 to 100 nm in size with properties not exhibited by their larger bulk counterparts (Khanna et al, 2015; Capco & Chen, 2014; Maynard, 2011; Djurišić et al, 2015). The reactivity of nanoparticles depends on their size, charge, dose as well as the chemical composition of their coating (Medina et al, 2007).
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
