Developmental Toxicity of Carbon Quantum Dots to the Embryos/Larvae of Rare Minnow (Gobiocypris rarus).

Yuan-Yuan Xiao,Yu-Lian Zeng,Li Liu,Yao Chen,Ming-Zhi Liu,Li Jin

doi:10.1155/2016/4016402

Abstract

The toxic effects of CDs on rare minnow (Gobiocypris rarus) embryos at different developmental stages were investigated. The results showed that rare minnow embryos had decreased spontaneous movements, body length, increased heart rate, pericardial edema, yolk sac edema, tail/spinal curvature, various morphological malformations, and decreased hatching rate. Biochemical analysis showed the CDs exposure significantly inhibited the activity of Na+/K+-ATPase and Ca2+-ATPase and increased the MDA contents and the activity of SOD, CAT, and GPX. Further examination suggested that the CDs exposure induced serious embryonic cellular DNA damage. Moreover, the CDs exposure induced upregulation of development related genes (Wnt8a and Mstn) along with the downregulation of Vezf1. Overall, the present study revealed that the CDs exposure has significant development toxicity on rare minnow embryos/larvae. Mechanistically, this toxicity might result from the pressure of induced oxidative stress coordinate with the dysregulated development related gene expression mediated by the CDs exposure.

Highlights

Carbon quantum dots (CDs) denote a class of less than 10 nm sized nanoparticles composed of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and other elements [1]
Longer exposure time increased the malformation rate indicated by the shorter body length, tail/spinal curvature and pericardial edema, and yolk sac edema of the rare minnow embryos/larvae (Figure 1(b))
Chen et al have shown the abnormal condensation of embryonic eggs, pericardial edema, and curvature of the spine of zebrafish embryos/larvae following exposure to CdSe/ZnS QDs [15]

Summary

Introduction

Carbon quantum dots (CDs) denote a class of less than 10 nm sized nanoparticles composed of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and other elements [1]. With the advent of nanotechnology, CDs are becoming more prevalent in the environment This raises increasing public concerns about biosafety and the potential health risks of long term exposure to CDs. Previous study has shown that concentration of the TiO2 in surface waters is 21 ng/L and the C60 in sewage is 4 ng/L, which could increase to 35 mg/L through the suspension process in the natural water system [6]. We report a biosafety research of CDs on rare minnow (Gobiocypris rarus), an endemic cyprinid fish in China [10]. With serious features such as short life cycle, high fertilization rates, and hatching rates, rare minnow has. Our data would enrich the scientific understanding for the biocompatibility and risk assessment of CDs, and promote the early diagnosis of potential pollution in fishery water area introduced by nanomaterials

Materials and Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion