Comparative toxicity evaluation of graphene oxide (GO) and zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles on Drosophila melanogaster

Engineered nanomaterials consisting of multiple nanoparticles (NPs) are finding their use in fields as wide and diverse as medicine, environment, cosmetics, energy and electronics. However, health and environmental impacts of these NPs need to be discerned individually to understand their true toxicity. Due to the promising application of upcoming material like GO-ZnO nanocomposite, the toxicity of ZnO and GO NPs was evaluated and compared individually in our study. This study compares the toxicity of Graphene Oxide (GO) NPs and Zinc Oxide (ZnO) NPs synthesized by Green method and Chemical method on Drosophila melanogaster. The GO, Chemical ZnO and Green ZnO NPs were synthesized and characterized using SEM, HR-TEM, FT-IR, UV–vis, EDX, XRD and DLS studies. NPs were comparatively analyzed for their cytotoxic and neurotoxic behaviors using different assays like MTT assay, mortality rate, larval crawling and climbing assay, total protein content analysis for evaluating the toxic potential of each of these NPs at different concentrations of use. Green ZnO were found to be least cytotoxic while Chemical ZnO caused the most cell damage. GO were found to have intermediary cytotoxicity. However, a different trend was observed with neurotoxicity wherein Green ZnO reportedly affected the neuromuscular coordination the most, while GO was found to have the least affect. This study provided insights into the different toxic effects caused by GO and ZnO NPs on Drosophila as well as comparative toxic effects of Chemical vs Green ZnO NPs.