Abstract
Marine nano-ecotoxicology has emerged with the purpose to assess the environmental risks associated with engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) among contaminants of emerging concerns entering the marine environment. ENMs’ massive production and integration in everyday life applications, associated with their peculiar physical chemical features, including high biological reactivity, have imposed a pressing need to shed light on risk for humans and the environment. Environmental safety assessment, known as ecosafety, has thus become mandatory with the perspective to develop a more holistic exposure scenario and understand biological effects. Here, we review the current knowledge on behavior and impact of ENMs which end up in the marine environment. A focus on titanium dioxide (n-TiO2) and silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), among metal-based ENMs massively used in commercial products, and polymeric NPs as polystyrene (PS), largely adopted as proxy for nanoplastics, is made. ENMs eco-interactions with chemical molecules including (bio)natural ones and anthropogenic pollutants, forming eco- and bio-coronas and link with their uptake and toxicity in marine organisms are discussed. An ecologically based design strategy (eco-design) is proposed to support the development of new ENMs, including those for environmental applications (e.g., nanoremediation), by balancing their effectiveness with no associated risk for marine organisms and humans.
Highlights
Along with social and economic development, population growth and the increasing interests in exploitation and utilization of marine resources, a progressive increase in marine pollution has been encountered
While biotechnology and toxicology have already incorponeed to be takenaspects into account approaching thetoxicity of nanosized rated different of thewhen biomolecular corona in studies study with NPs, such concepts objects, as they interact with living entities in a fundamentally different way than classical made their way in the field of nano-ecotoxicology only recently by incorporating the syscontaminants [71,72]
engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) are highly dynamic in seawater and a full detailed physical chemical characterization of their acquired properties is mandatory for a proper assessment of exposure scenarios and related environmental and human risks
Summary
Along with social and economic development, population growth and the increasing interests in exploitation and utilization of marine resources, a progressive increase in marine pollution has been encountered. ENM behavior in artificial media, such as NaCl solutions reconstituted artificial seawater, standardized protocols for ecotoxicityas testing This aspect has been recognized fundaChanges in ENM intrinsic properties in response to selected abiotic variables, such mental to unravel nano-bio-interactions (i.e., exposure to the as pH, temperature, single ions and transformations) commercially availableand humiclink substances, have been providing clues on their transformation once dispersed natural observed biological investigated effects. Been recognized as fundamental unravel nano-bio-interactions (i.e., transformations) and link entering exposure to the paper, we have reviewed the to importance of such eco-interactions for ENMs the observed biological effects For this purpose, environmental media such as natural aquatic systems as drivers of fate and ecotoxicity for marine organisms [31]. We have reviewed the importance of such eco-interactions for ENMs entering the aquatic systems as drivers of fate and ecotoxicity for marine organisms [31]
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