Abstract
As the extent to which aquatic environments are polluted with nano-scale objects is becoming known, we are presented with an urgent need to study their effects on various forms of life and to clear and/or detoxify them. A range of methods exist to these ends, but a lack of inter-study comparability arising from an absence of experimental standardisation impedes progress. Here we present experiments that demonstrate measurement of orchestrated uptake and clearance of two environmentally-relevant nano- and micromaterials by a model aquatic microoraganism, Paramecium caudatum. Experiments were based on a simple, modular, multi-chamber platform that permits standardised control of organism behaviour and measurement of variables relevant to the study of nanotoxicology, including nanomaterial chemotaxis assays, bioaccumulation and deleterious effects on cell motility systems. Uptake of internalised materials may be estimated through the addition of a low-cost fluorescence spectrometer. P. caudatum cells can clear an estimated 0.7 fg of contaminant materials (or 161 of the particles used) per cell over a 5 mm distance per 6 hour experiment, whilst suffering few short-term adverse effects, suggesting that the organism and the platform used to investigate their properties are well-suited to a range of laboratory and field-based nanotoxicological studies.
Highlights
Since the advent of the nanotechnology revolution, biological matter is being exposed to nano-scale material, both through deliberate means, as well as accidental exposure to environmentally-dispersed NMs, which are an emerging class of environmental pollutant[2]
We have argued that manipulation of nano- and micro-particles in ciliated microorganisms such as P. caudatum constitutes a natural form of ‘sorting’[9,10,11], i.e. controlled differential manipulation of environmentally-dispersed objects, based on active discrimination between their physical properties
As P. caudatum preferentially ingests several varieties of nano-scaled material and concentrates them in intracellular vesicles[12,13,14], we find it feasible to suggest that such organisms may be employed to clear and, potentially, partially detoxify nano-scaled environmental contaminant particles
Summary
Since the advent of the nanotechnology revolution, biological matter is being exposed to nano-scale material, both through deliberate means (e.g. the use of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles, SPIONs, as contrast agents in MRI technologies1), as well as accidental exposure to environmentally-dispersed NMs, which are an emerging class of environmental pollutant[2]. We have argued that manipulation of nano- and micro-particles in ciliated microorganisms such as P. caudatum constitutes a natural form of ‘sorting’[9,10,11], i.e. controlled differential manipulation of environmentally-dispersed objects, based on active discrimination between their physical properties. Future applications may include biological intervention for real-world contaminant clearance applications This investigation details a feasibility study into the use of live P. caudatum cells for nanomaterial clearance (uptake and controlled transport), based on a low-cost, fabricated and operated platform that was designed with the aim of standardising the control of microorganisms and measuring key variables relevant to nanotoxicology (Fig. 1). The nanomaterials used, fluorescent latex particles (FLPs) and magnetite nanoparticles (MNPs), were chosen for their being analogous to microplastic particles, an emerging environmental contaminant[16] and for their increasing use in human medicine[1], respectively
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