Abstract
Nanomaterials are being extensively produced and applied in society. Human and environmental exposures are, therefore, inevitable and so increased attention is being given to nanotoxicity. While silica nanoparticles (NP) are one of the top five nanomaterials found in consumer and biomedical products, their toxicity profile is poorly characterized. In this study, we investigated the toxicity of silica nanoparticles with diameters 20, 50 and 80 nm using an in vivo zebrafish platform that analyzes multiple endpoints related to developmental, cardio-, hepato-, and neurotoxicity. Results show that except for an acceleration in hatching time and alterations in the behavior of zebrafish embryos/larvae, silica NPs did not elicit any developmental defects, nor any cardio- and hepatotoxicity. The behavioral alterations were consistent for both embryonic photomotor and larval locomotor response and were dependent on the concentration and the size of silica NPs. As embryos and larvae exhibited a normal touch response and early hatching did not affect larval locomotor response, the behavior changes observed are most likely the consequence of modified neuroactivity. Overall, our results suggest that silica NPs do not cause any developmental, cardio- or hepatotoxicity, but they pose a potential risk for the neurobehavioral system.
Highlights
In recent years, nanotechnology has rapidly gained interest for innovative applications in several areas
Silica NPs dispersed in Milli-Q water was obtained from Nanocomposix (SanDiego, USA)
The results show that the size of stock silica NPs are consistent with the ones declared by the manufacturer
Summary
Nanotechnology has rapidly gained interest for innovative applications in several areas. Nanoform silica is one of the top 5 nanoparticles (NPs) and is used mostly in consumer products such as food and drugs[2]. Individual consumer intake of silica from food was estimated at 9.4 mg/kg bw/day, of which around 20% (1.8 mg/kg bw/day) was estimated to be in the nano-size range[3]. As much as 43% of silica of synthetic origin present in food products is in the nanometer size range[3,4]. Numerous forms of silica nanoparticles, such as amorphous or mesoporous silica, are under development for biomedical applications including medical diagnostics, drug delivery, gene therapy, biomolecules detection, photodynamic therapy and bioimaging[5,6]. Effect of surface properties Au NPs: positive, negative and neutral surface charges Ag: coated with citrate or fulvic acid
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