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Environmental Hazards of Boron and Vanadium Nanoparticles in the Terrestrial Ecosystem—A Case Study with Enchytraeus crypticus

From the start of the 21st century, nanoecotoxicological research has been growing in fast steps due to the need to evaluate the safety of the increasing use of engineered nanomaterials. Boron (B) and vanadium (V) nanoparticles (NPs) generated by anthropogenic activities are subsequently released in...

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Autores principales: Barreto, Angela, Santos, Joana, Amorim, Mónica J. B., Maria, Vera L.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8399937/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34443769
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nano11081937
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author Barreto, Angela
Santos, Joana
Amorim, Mónica J. B.
Maria, Vera L.
author_facet Barreto, Angela
Santos, Joana
Amorim, Mónica J. B.
Maria, Vera L.
author_sort Barreto, Angela
collection PubMed
description From the start of the 21st century, nanoecotoxicological research has been growing in fast steps due to the need to evaluate the safety of the increasing use of engineered nanomaterials. Boron (B) and vanadium (V) nanoparticles (NPs) generated by anthropogenic activities are subsequently released in the environment; therefore, organisms can be continuously exposed to these NPs for short or long periods. However, the short and long-term effects of BNPs and VNPs on soil organisms are unknown. This work aimed to recognize and describe their potential toxicological effects on the model species Enchytraeus crypticus, assessing survival and reproduction, through a longer-term exposure (56 days (d)—OECD test extension of 28 d), and avoidance behavior, through a short-term exposure (48 hours (h)). After 28 d, BNPs did not induce a significant effect on E. crypticus survival, whereas they decreased the organisms’ reproduction at 500 mg/kg. From 10 to 500 mg/kg, VNPs decreased the E. crypticus survival and/or reproduction. After 56 d, 100 to 500 mg/kg BNPs and 50 to 500 mg/kg VNPs, decreased the reproduction output of E. crypticus. The estimated Effect Concentrations (EC(x)) based on reproduction, for BNPs, were lower at 56 d compared with 28 d; for VNPs, an opposite pattern was found: EC(x) 28 d < EC(x) 56 d. BNPs did not induce an avoidance behavior, but organisms avoided the soil contaminated with 10 mg VNPs/kg. The tested NPs showed different E. crypticus apical effects at 28 d from the ones detected at 56 d, dependent on the type of NPs (B vs. V). In general, VNPs showed to be more toxic than BNPs. However, the effects of VNPs were alleviated during the time of exposure, contrarily to BNPs (which became more toxic with extended duration). The present study adds important information about NPs toxicity with ecological significance (at the population level). Including long-term effects, the obtained results contributes to the improvement of NPs risk assessment.
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spelling pubmed-83999372021-08-29 Environmental Hazards of Boron and Vanadium Nanoparticles in the Terrestrial Ecosystem—A Case Study with Enchytraeus crypticus Barreto, Angela Santos, Joana Amorim, Mónica J. B. Maria, Vera L. Nanomaterials (Basel) Article From the start of the 21st century, nanoecotoxicological research has been growing in fast steps due to the need to evaluate the safety of the increasing use of engineered nanomaterials. Boron (B) and vanadium (V) nanoparticles (NPs) generated by anthropogenic activities are subsequently released in the environment; therefore, organisms can be continuously exposed to these NPs for short or long periods. However, the short and long-term effects of BNPs and VNPs on soil organisms are unknown. This work aimed to recognize and describe their potential toxicological effects on the model species Enchytraeus crypticus, assessing survival and reproduction, through a longer-term exposure (56 days (d)—OECD test extension of 28 d), and avoidance behavior, through a short-term exposure (48 hours (h)). After 28 d, BNPs did not induce a significant effect on E. crypticus survival, whereas they decreased the organisms’ reproduction at 500 mg/kg. From 10 to 500 mg/kg, VNPs decreased the E. crypticus survival and/or reproduction. After 56 d, 100 to 500 mg/kg BNPs and 50 to 500 mg/kg VNPs, decreased the reproduction output of E. crypticus. The estimated Effect Concentrations (EC(x)) based on reproduction, for BNPs, were lower at 56 d compared with 28 d; for VNPs, an opposite pattern was found: EC(x) 28 d < EC(x) 56 d. BNPs did not induce an avoidance behavior, but organisms avoided the soil contaminated with 10 mg VNPs/kg. The tested NPs showed different E. crypticus apical effects at 28 d from the ones detected at 56 d, dependent on the type of NPs (B vs. V). In general, VNPs showed to be more toxic than BNPs. However, the effects of VNPs were alleviated during the time of exposure, contrarily to BNPs (which became more toxic with extended duration). The present study adds important information about NPs toxicity with ecological significance (at the population level). Including long-term effects, the obtained results contributes to the improvement of NPs risk assessment. MDPI 2021-07-28 /pmc/articles/PMC8399937/ /pubmed/34443769 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nano11081937 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/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 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Barreto, Angela
Santos, Joana
Amorim, Mónica J. B.
Maria, Vera L.
Environmental Hazards of Boron and Vanadium Nanoparticles in the Terrestrial Ecosystem—A Case Study with Enchytraeus crypticus
title Environmental Hazards of Boron and Vanadium Nanoparticles in the Terrestrial Ecosystem—A Case Study with Enchytraeus crypticus
title_full Environmental Hazards of Boron and Vanadium Nanoparticles in the Terrestrial Ecosystem—A Case Study with Enchytraeus crypticus
title_fullStr Environmental Hazards of Boron and Vanadium Nanoparticles in the Terrestrial Ecosystem—A Case Study with Enchytraeus crypticus
title_full_unstemmed Environmental Hazards of Boron and Vanadium Nanoparticles in the Terrestrial Ecosystem—A Case Study with Enchytraeus crypticus
title_short Environmental Hazards of Boron and Vanadium Nanoparticles in the Terrestrial Ecosystem—A Case Study with Enchytraeus crypticus
title_sort environmental hazards of boron and vanadium nanoparticles in the terrestrial ecosystem—a case study with enchytraeus crypticus
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8399937/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34443769
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nano11081937
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