Abstract

The energy budget is an indicator of an organism’s overall condition. Changes in energy reserves and/or energy consumption have been used as biomarkers of toxic stress. To understand the effects of different forms and concentrations of Zn and the costs of effective Zn regulation by the earthworm Eisenia andrei, we performed a toxicokinetic experiment in which individuals were sampled over time to determine the available energy reserves (total carbohydrate, protein, and lipid content), energy consumption (measured at the cellular level and as the whole-animal respiration rate), and internal Zn concentration. The earthworms were exposed to ZnCl2 or zinc nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) in Lufa 2.2 soil for 21 days (contamination phase), followed by 14 days of elimination in clean soil (decontamination phase). Carbohydrates were the only energy reserves with significantly lower levels following ZnO-NP 1000 treatment than following other treatments (p ≤ 0.00001) in the contamination phase. The total available energy reserves and protein content did not differ among treatments, but a significant effect of exposure time was observed (p ≤ 0.0001). Exposure to Zn (both ions and NPs) increased energy consumption at the cellular level, reflecting the high energy demand of the stress response. The results indicated that E. andrei can regulate internal Zn concentrations efficiently, regardless of form or concentration, without considerable impact on energy reserves or respiration rate.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s11356-019-05753-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Highlights

  • Nanoparticles (NPs) exhibit eminent technological potential that stems from the specific physicochemical properties of these particles

  • Lahive et al (2017) showed that Eisenia fetida reproduction was affected to a greater degree after exposure to engineered NPs (ZnO-NPs, TiO2-NPs, AgNPs) than after exposure to metal salts when earthworms were exposed to soils amended with sewage sludge from a wastewater treatment plant treated with NPs or metal salts

  • The soil pH was lower in soils spiked with ZnCl2 and in the control than in soils spiked with Zinc oxide NPs (ZnO-NPs)

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Summary

Introduction

Nanoparticles (NPs) exhibit eminent technological potential that stems from the specific physicochemical properties of these particles. Zinc oxide NPs (ZnO-NPs) are among the most widely used NPs and have been successfully incorporated into semiconductors, electronic sensors, solar. That ZnO-NPs are less toxic than zinc ions to soil-dwelling organisms (Garcia-Gomez et al 2015), including earthworms (Kwak and An 2015). Hua et al (2014) demonstrated that the toxicity of ZnO-NPs against zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos resulted from the combined effect of the particles themselves and the dissolved ions released from the NPs. Recently, published studies on terrestrial organisms have revealed that the toxicity of ZnO-NPs against plants, microbial communities (Judy et al 2015), and earthworms (Lahive et al 2017) may have been underestimated. Lahive et al (2017) showed that Eisenia fetida reproduction was affected to a greater degree after exposure to engineered NPs (ZnO-NPs, TiO2-NPs, AgNPs) than after exposure to metal salts when earthworms were exposed to soils amended with sewage sludge from a wastewater treatment plant treated with NPs or metal salts

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