Cargando…

Investigating the Role of Gold Nanoparticle Shape and Size in Their Toxicities to Fungi

Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) are increasingly being used in a wide range of applications, and such they are being released in greater quantities into the environment. Consequently, the environmental effects of GNPs, especially toxicities to living organisms, have drawn great attention. However, their t...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Liu, Kangze, He, Zhonglei, Byrne, Hugh J., Curtin, James F., Tian, Furong
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5982037/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29772665
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15050998
_version_ 1783328159776636928
author Liu, Kangze
He, Zhonglei
Byrne, Hugh J.
Curtin, James F.
Tian, Furong
author_facet Liu, Kangze
He, Zhonglei
Byrne, Hugh J.
Curtin, James F.
Tian, Furong
author_sort Liu, Kangze
collection PubMed
description Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) are increasingly being used in a wide range of applications, and such they are being released in greater quantities into the environment. Consequently, the environmental effects of GNPs, especially toxicities to living organisms, have drawn great attention. However, their toxicological characteristics still remain unclear. Fungi, as the decomposers of the ecosystem, interact directly with the environment and critically control the overall health of the biosphere. Thus, their sensitivity to GNP toxicity is particularly important. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of GNP shape and size in their toxicities to fungi, which could help reveal the ecotoxicity of GNPs. Aspergillus niger, Mucor hiemalis, and Penicillium chrysogenum were chosen for toxicity assessment, and spherical and star/flower-shaped GNPs ranging in size from 0.7 nm to large aggregates of 400 nm were synthesised. After exposure to GNPs and their corresponding reaction agents and incubation for 48 h, the survival rates of each kind of fungus were calculated and compared. The results indicated that fungal species was the major determinant of the variation of survival rates, whereby A. niger was the most sensitive and M. himalis was the least sensitive to GNP exposure. Additionally, larger and non-spherical GNPs had relatively stronger toxicities.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-5982037
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2018
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-59820372018-06-07 Investigating the Role of Gold Nanoparticle Shape and Size in Their Toxicities to Fungi Liu, Kangze He, Zhonglei Byrne, Hugh J. Curtin, James F. Tian, Furong Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) are increasingly being used in a wide range of applications, and such they are being released in greater quantities into the environment. Consequently, the environmental effects of GNPs, especially toxicities to living organisms, have drawn great attention. However, their toxicological characteristics still remain unclear. Fungi, as the decomposers of the ecosystem, interact directly with the environment and critically control the overall health of the biosphere. Thus, their sensitivity to GNP toxicity is particularly important. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of GNP shape and size in their toxicities to fungi, which could help reveal the ecotoxicity of GNPs. Aspergillus niger, Mucor hiemalis, and Penicillium chrysogenum were chosen for toxicity assessment, and spherical and star/flower-shaped GNPs ranging in size from 0.7 nm to large aggregates of 400 nm were synthesised. After exposure to GNPs and their corresponding reaction agents and incubation for 48 h, the survival rates of each kind of fungus were calculated and compared. The results indicated that fungal species was the major determinant of the variation of survival rates, whereby A. niger was the most sensitive and M. himalis was the least sensitive to GNP exposure. Additionally, larger and non-spherical GNPs had relatively stronger toxicities. MDPI 2018-05-16 2018-05 /pmc/articles/PMC5982037/ /pubmed/29772665 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15050998 Text en © 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Liu, Kangze
He, Zhonglei
Byrne, Hugh J.
Curtin, James F.
Tian, Furong
Investigating the Role of Gold Nanoparticle Shape and Size in Their Toxicities to Fungi
title Investigating the Role of Gold Nanoparticle Shape and Size in Their Toxicities to Fungi
title_full Investigating the Role of Gold Nanoparticle Shape and Size in Their Toxicities to Fungi
title_fullStr Investigating the Role of Gold Nanoparticle Shape and Size in Their Toxicities to Fungi
title_full_unstemmed Investigating the Role of Gold Nanoparticle Shape and Size in Their Toxicities to Fungi
title_short Investigating the Role of Gold Nanoparticle Shape and Size in Their Toxicities to Fungi
title_sort investigating the role of gold nanoparticle shape and size in their toxicities to fungi
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5982037/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29772665
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15050998
work_keys_str_mv AT liukangze investigatingtheroleofgoldnanoparticleshapeandsizeintheirtoxicitiestofungi
AT hezhonglei investigatingtheroleofgoldnanoparticleshapeandsizeintheirtoxicitiestofungi
AT byrnehughj investigatingtheroleofgoldnanoparticleshapeandsizeintheirtoxicitiestofungi
AT curtinjamesf investigatingtheroleofgoldnanoparticleshapeandsizeintheirtoxicitiestofungi
AT tianfurong investigatingtheroleofgoldnanoparticleshapeandsizeintheirtoxicitiestofungi