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Toxicity of zinc oxide nanoparticles to zebrafish embryo: a physicochemical study of toxicity mechanism

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Abstract

The biological impact of engineered nanomaterials released into the aquatic environment is a major concern. In this work, the properties of ZnO nanoparticles (nano-ZnO, 30 nm) were characterized in a water suspension (E3 medium), and a zebrafish 96-h post fertilization (hpf) embryo–larval test was performed to assess the toxicity of nano-ZnO suspension. Nano-ZnO was found to readily form aggregates with different sizes; small aggregates (142.4–517.7 nm) were still suspended in E3 medium, but large aggregates (>1 μm) quickly deposited on the bottom of 24-well plates; nano-ZnO was partially dissolved to Zn species (Zn(dis)) in E3 medium. In the nano-ZnO suspension, small aggregates, Zn(dis), and large aggregates might jointly exert influence on the development of zebrafish embryos. The embryo toxicity test revealed that nano-ZnO killed zebrafish embryos (50 and 100 mg/L), retarded the embryo hatching (1–25 mg/L), reduced the body length of larvae, and caused tail malformation after the 96 hpf exposure. Zn(dis) only partially contributed to the toxicity of nano-ZnO. This research highlights the need to further investigate the ecotoxicity of nano-ZnO in the water environment.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the National Zebrafish Resources of China, Peking University, for kindly providing zebrafish strains. This research is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 10505024, 20707027, 10875136), the Knowledge Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. KJCX3.SYW.N3), and the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (Grant No. 2006CB705605).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CAS Key Laboratory for Biomedical Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafety, CAS Key Laboratory of Nuclear Analytical Techniques, Institute of High Energy Physics, The Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, 100049, China

    Wei Bai, Zhiyong Zhang, Xiao He, Yuhui Ma, Yuliang Zhao & Zhifang Chai

  2. College of Environment and Safety Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266061, China

    Wenjing Tian

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  1. Wei Bai
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  2. Zhiyong Zhang
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Correspondence to Zhiyong Zhang.

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Bai, W., Zhang, Z., Tian, W. et al. Toxicity of zinc oxide nanoparticles to zebrafish embryo: a physicochemical study of toxicity mechanism. J Nanopart Res 12, 1645–1654 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-009-9740-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-009-9740-9

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