Abstract
With rising environmental levels of carbon-based nanoparticles (CBNs), there is an urgent need to develop an understanding of their biological effects in order to generate appropriate risk assessment strategies. Herein, we exposed zebrafish via their diet to one of four different CBNs: C60 fullerene (C60), single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT), short multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) or long MWCNTs. Lipid alterations in male and female zebrafish were explored post-exposure in three target tissues (brain, gonads and gastrointestinal tract) using ‘omic’ procedures based in liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (LC-MS) data files. These tissues were chosen as they are often target tissues following environmental exposure. Marked alterations in lipid species are noted in all three tissues. To further explore CBN-induced brain alterations, Raman microspectroscopy analysis of lipid extracts was conducted. Marked lipid alterations are observed with males responding differently to females; in addition, there also appears to be consistent elevations in global genomic methylation. This latter observation is most profound in female zebrafish brain tissues post-exposure to short MWCNTs or SWCNTs (P < 0.05). This study demonstrates that even at low levels, CBNs are capable of inducing significant cellular and genomic modifications in a range of tissues. Such alterations could result in modified susceptibility to other influences such as environmental exposures, pathology and, in the case of brain, developmental alterations.
Highlights
Carbon-based nanoparticles (CBNs) are key constituents in many technologies
CBNs comprise a diverse range of entities including multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs; long or short), single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and C60 fullerene (C60)
Considering that reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation might be an underlying mechanism of CBN-induced toxicity, we examine the effects of low dietary exposures on three target tissues in male and female zebrafish
Summary
Carbon-based nanoparticles (CBNs) are key constituents in many technologies. As a consequence, environmental exposure is increasing in the absence of a full understanding of the potential risks that they might pose. Significant gaps in our understanding or the ability to assess such risks [1] exist and these include: (i) as they differ from chemicals, an absence of an understanding of their toxicodynamics. CBNs comprise a diverse range of entities including multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs; long or short), single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and C60 fullerene (C60). These carbon allotropes with cylindrical nanostructures have unusual properties that confer advantages in electronics, optics, materials sciences and nanotechnology. They may surround or further penetrate into subcellular structures such as lysosomes. The significance of parameters such as lipid peroxidation, potential genetic damaged induced by ROS and genomic methylation are critical to our understanding of environmental nanotoxicology [7,8,9,10,11,12]
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