Williams a aDepartment of Environmental Health Science, College of Public Health, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA bDepartment of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of K
Trang 1Comparative phototoxicity of nanoparticulate and bulk ZnO to a free-living
nematode Caenorhabditis elegans: The importance of illumination mode
and primary particle size
H Ma a,*,1 , N.J Kabengi b , P.M Bertsch b , J.M Unrine b , T.C Glenn a , P.L Williams a
aDepartment of Environmental Health Science, College of Public Health, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
bDepartment of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40546, USA
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 17 November 2010
Received in revised form
14 March 2011
Accepted 16 March 2011
Keywords:
Nanoparticulate ZnO
Bulk ZnO
Phototoxicity
Reactive oxygen species (ROS)
Caenorhabditis elegans
a b s t r a c t
The present study evaluated phototoxicity of nanoparticulate ZnO and bulk-ZnO under natural sunlight (NSL) versus ambient artificial laboratory light (AALL) illumination to a free-living nematode Caeno-rhabditis elegans Phototoxicity of nano-ZnO and bulk-ZnO was largely dependent on illumination method as 2-h exposure under NSL caused significantly greater mortality in C elegans than under AALL This phototoxicity was closely related to photocatalytic reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation by the ZnO particles as indicated by concomitant methylene blue photodegradation Both materials caused mortality in C elegans under AALL during 24-h exposure although neither degraded methylene blue, suggesting mechanisms of toxicity other than photocatalytic ROS generation were involved Particle dissolution of ZnO did not appear to play an important role in the toxicity observed in this study Nano-ZnO showed greater phototoxicity than bulk-Nano-ZnO despite their similar size of aggregates, suggesting primary particle size is more important than aggregate size in determining phototoxicity
Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved
1 Introduction
Nanoparticulate metal oxides are being used within a great
variety of applications due to their novel optical, magnetic, and
electronic properties ( Zhou et al., 2006 ) With widespread use of
these manufactured nanoparticles, concerns about their potential
impact on the environment and human health have been raised
( Colvin, 2003 ) Although still in its infancy, toxicity studies on
manufactured metal oxide nanoparticles (such as TiO2, ZnO) are
expanding rapidly ( Hall et al., 2009; Jiang et al., 2008; Brunet et al.,
2009; Reeves et al., 2008; Franklin et al., 2007; Wang et al., 2009;
Ma et al., 2009 ).
Toxicity of manufactured nanoparticles may be attributed to
several different modes of action: chemical toxicity based on
chemical composition (e.g., release of toxic ions); surface catalyzed
reactions (e.g., formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS)); or
stress of stimuli caused by the surface, size, and shape of the
particles ( Wang et al., 2009; Nel et al., 2006 ) Dissolution of
nanoparticles resulting in the release of toxic ions has been found
to play an important role in eliciting toxicity in both metal oxides ( Franklin et al., 2007; Wang et al., 2009; Ma et al., 2009 ) and quantum dots ( Priester et al., 2009; King-Heiden et al., 2009 ) Generation of ROS by nanoparticles interacting with environmental agents (e.g., UV) represents another important mode of action for metal oxide nanoparticles with photocatalytic activities such as TiO2or ZnO, as high concentration of ROS causes oxidative stress and can eventually elicit toxicity in biological systems ( Applerot
et al., 2009 ) A wealth of studies have demonstrated phototoxicity
of TiO2nanoparticles in a broad range of biological systems, from bacteria ( Brunet et al., 2009; Sunada et al., 2003; Adams et al.,
2006 ) to mammalian cell lines ( Sayes et al., 2006; Gopalan et al.,
2009 ) The underlying mechanism of bactericidal activity of TiO2
to Escherichia coli K-12 cells has been revealed to be associated with lipid peroxidation induced by ROS generation under UV irradiation ( Maness et al., 1999 ) ZnO nanoparticles are similar to TiO2 nano-particles regarding their photodynamic and antibacterial proper-ties ( Daneshvar et al., 2007 ), and are receiving increasing application in numerous areas such as electronics, rubber additives, medicine, biosensors, personal-care products, etc However, studies on phototoxicity of manufactured ZnO nanoparticles have been very limited except for those reporting their antibacterial effects ( Jones et al., 2008 ) A recent study by Gopalan et al (2009)
* Corresponding author
E-mail addresses:mah77@uga.edu,ma.hongbo@epa.gov(H Ma)
1 Present address: Mid-Continent Ecology Division, United States Environmental
Protection Agency, Duluth, MN 55804, USA Tel.:þ1 218 529 5071
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Environmental Pollution
j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w e l s e v i e r c o m / l o c a t e / e n v p o l
0269-7491/$e see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved
Environmental Pollution 159 (2011) 1473e1480
Trang 2found that genotoxicity of ZnO nanoparticles to human sperm and
lymphocytes was enhanced by UV irradiation Given the increasing
applications of ZnO nanoparticles and its consequent release to the
environment either by intended disposal or accidental release, it is
essential to understand their potential phototoxicity to the natural
biota.
The objective of the current study is to evaluate phototoxicity of
nanoparticulate ZnO (nano-ZnO) and its bulk counterpart
(bulk-ZnO) to a free-living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans under natural
sunlight (NSL) versus ambient arti ficial laboratory light (AALL)
illumination Aqueous ZnCl2was used as control A representative
species of the nematode phylum which is of great ecological
signi ficance, together with its thoroughly understood biology, short
life cycle, and ease of culture in the laboratory, C elegans has served
as a good model for both terrestrial and aquatic receptors for
eco-toxicological studies for a wide range of environmental toxicants
( Leung et al., 2008 ) More recently, it has also been used for
eco-toxicological studies on manufactured nanoparticles ( Ma et al.,
2009; Wang et al., 2009 ) To help elucidate the possible
mecha-nism of the phototoxicity (i.e., localization of ROS toxicity),
photo-catalytic activity/ROS generation of the ZnO particles and lipid
peroxidation in the nematodes were also measured The hypotheses
are that: (i) phototoxicity of nano-ZnO will be greater under NSL
than under AALL, and this phototoxicity will be positively correlated
with photocatalytic activity/ROS generation of the nanoparticles;
(ii) nano-ZnO will have greater phototoxicity than bulk-ZnO, as
smaller particles have a greater surface area per unit mass than
larger particles and thus may be more effective in generating ROS
( Applerot et al., 2009 ) Natural sunlight instead of arti ficial UV light
was used to activate the nanoparticles because exposure under NSL
is a more realistic scenario under which organisms might be
exposed to nanoparticles released to the environment.
2 Materials and methods
2.1 Nano-ZnO and bulk-ZnO sample preparation
Powdered nanoparticulate ZnO (NanoGardÒzinc oxide) was purchased from Alfa
Aesar (Ward Hill, MA, USA) with a stated size of 40e100 nm Stock suspensions of
nano-ZnO and bulk-ZnO (Mallinckrodt; Phillipsburg, NJ) (100 mg/l (80% Zn)) were
prepared by sonication for 2 h in an ultrasonic bath (Branson; Danbury, CT) Specific
surface areas (SSA) of both materials were determined by BrunauereEmmeteTeller
(BET) method and were found to be 17.0 and 4.2 m2/g for nano-ZnO and bulk-ZnO,
respectively Reagent grade ZnCl2(Mallinckrodt; Phillipsburg, NJ) was used to make
ZnCl2stock solution Test solutions were freshly diluted from the stock which was
sonicated for 30 min prior to dilution to ensure proper dispersion of the materials Both
stock suspension and dilutions were made in K-medium (0.032 M KCl, 0.051 M NaCl,
pH 5.8e6.0) (Williams and Dusenbery, 1990), an aqueous medium used for C elegans
based bioassays The pH of the test solutions was measured using a pH meter
2.2 Particle characterization
The nanoparticulate and bulk ZnO were characterized using a variety of
analytical techniques Transmission electron microscopy (TEM, FEI/Philips Electron
Optics, Eindhoven, The Netherlands) was used to characterize particle morphology
and measure the primary particle size Approximately 100 particles from four
representative images of each material were measured and average sizes of the
particles were reported Dynamic light scattering (DLS) was performed using
a photo correlation spectrophotometer (Malvern Instruments, Worcestershire, UK)
to determine the dh(hydrodynamic diameter) of the particles or aggregates To
analyze aggregates> 1mm in diameter, suspensions of nanoparticles were
exam-ined by differential interference contrast microscopy (DIC) using a motorized
microscope (Nikon Instruments; Melville, NY) equipped with a 40 objective lens
and a cooled CCD monochrome camera At least 100 aggregates were recorded for
each material and average diameters were calculated
Dissolution of nano-ZnO or bulk-ZnO in suspensions was assessed byfiltration
through regenerated cellulose membranes with a 3000 Da nominal molecular
weight cutoff (approximately 0.9 nm) using a centrifugalfiltration device Three ml
of nano-ZnO or bulk-ZnO solutions at 100 mg/l were added to thefilter units and
centrifuged (Eppendorf 5810R; Westbury, NY) for 30 min at 3220 g Filtrates were
collected and analyzed for Zn concentration using an inductively coupled plasma
filtrates was determined by filtering ZnCl2 solutions of similar concentrations through the device
2.3 C elegans toxicity assay
C elegans (wild type N2) was obtained from Caenorhabditis Genetics Center (Minneapolis, MN) The nematode culture maintenance and generation of age-synchronized worms followed the description by Donkin and Williams (Donkin and Williams, 1995) Toxicity test was conducted for three materials: nano-ZnO, bulk-ZnO, and ZnCl2 For each material, exposure was conducted under three different illumination conditions: NSL, AALL, and in dark All tests were conducted in 24-well tissue culture plates Each test consisted of six concentrations of test substance (4, 8,
20, 40, 60, 80 mg/l Zn, corresponding to 5, 10, 25, 50, 75, 100 mg/l ZnO and 8, 17, 42,
84, 125, 167 mg/l ZnCl2) and a control, with three replicate wells for each concen-tration A 1.0 ml aliquot of test solution was added to each well which was subse-quently loaded with 10 (1) nematodes Light intensity was measured using
a digital luxmeter (Precision Mastech, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China) For exposure under NSL, the plates (without lids) were left under direct sunlight for 2 h on the outside ledge of a window facing southwest in the laboratory on bright days (25 1.5C average temperature, UV index 4e5) in October in Athens, GA (33570
1900N, 832205900W) Temperature of the exposure solution was recorded before and after exposure, and was found to increase by 2e3C; and the water loss in the exposure solution was estimated to be less than 5% after 2-h NSL exposure The average incident illuminance during the test period was 15,000 250 lux Mortality was monitored following the 2-h NSL exposure The exposure was continued for an extended 22 h under AALL by relocating the plates on a bench in the laboratory, which does not receive any sunlight Mortality was monitored again This 2-h NSL followed by 22-h AALL exposure allows for detection of possible synergistic toxicity
of the nanoparticles if different modes of action are involved under these two irradiation conditions For exposure under AALL, the plates (without lids) were placed on a bench in the laboratory with room temperature 22 0.5C The ambient laboratory lighting usesfluorescent lamps, and had an intensity of 525 25 lux during the test period For exposure in dark, the plates were covered by aluminum foil and placed in a cabinet at ambient room temperature Mortality was monitored
at 2 h and 24 h for exposure under AALL and in dark The plates were observed under
a dissecting microscope and the nematodes were counted and scored as live or dead following established protocole nematodes that did not move in response to
a gentle touch by a metal wire were counted dead (Williams and Dusenbery, 1990) 2.4 Photocatalytic activity measurement
In parallel to C elegans toxicity assay, photocatalytic activity of the three materials was determined under different illumination methods by measuring photodegradation of methylene blue (MB) in aqueous solution (Shen et al., 2008; Jang et al., 2006) Degradation of MB by photocatalysts such as ZnO or TiO2 involves generation of radicals such as O2andOH (Houas et al., 2001; Lachheb et al.,
2002); therefore, degradation of the dye can be used as an indicator for photo-catalytic activity/ROS generation of these materials A series of concentrations of each material were prepared in an identical manner as those for nematode bioassay; one ml of 25 mg/l MB was added to each well The plates were incubated for 30 min
to allow for equilibrium for the dye sorption to particles Prior to exposure, the plates were gently shaken by hand for a few minutes to homogenize the solution MB concentrations were measured at the beginning, after 2 h and 24 h of exposure, using a NanoDrop ND-1000 Spectrophotometer (NanoDrop Technologies, Wil-mington, DE) at 665 nm A negative control using a series of MB concentrations in K-medium under AALL was also included
2.5 Lipid peroxidation measurement Lipid peroxidation in C elegans after exposure to nano-ZnO and bulk-ZnO under NSL or AALL was measured by the thiobarbituric acid assay (TBARS) for malon-dialdehyde (MDA) using an OxiSelect TBARS Assay Kit (Cell Biolabs, San Diego, CA)
C elegans exposure for lipid peroxidation measurement was similar to the toxicity assay except that larger number of nematodes (w0.5 ml worm pellet) was used and only one nano-ZnO or bulk-ZnO concentration (25 mg/l) was tested After exposure, nano-ZnO or bulk-ZnO solutions were removed and the worms were rinsed with M9 buffer for three times, then immediately frozen at80C until TBARS analysis TBARS analysis was performed following the manufacturer’s instructions Fluoro-metric measurement of MDA was obtained using a Bio-Tek Synergy 4 Hybrid Multi-Mode Microplate Reader at 540 nm excitation and 590 nm emission MDA content was standardized by total nematode protein which was measured using bicincho-ninic acid (BCA) assay (Thermo Scientific, Rockford, IL, USA)
2.6 Data analysis All data reported were based on three independent experiments Median lethal concentrations (LC50s) and corresponding 95% CIs were calculated by Probit anal-ysis using TOXSTAT software (WEST, Inc, 1994) One-way ANOVA was used to
H Ma et al / Environmental Pollution 159 (2011) 1473e1480 1474
Trang 3peroxidation between NSL and AALL exposure Correlation between C elegans
mortality and % MB degradation was assessed using Pearson’s correlation
coefficients
3 Results
3.1 Particle characterization
Signi ficant particle aggregation was observed for both
nano-ZnO and bulk-nano-ZnO ( Fig 1 ) A quantitative measurement of
approximately 100 particles indicated an average primary particle
size of 60 25 and 550 256 (Mean SD, n ¼ 100) nm for
nano-ZnO and bulk-nano-ZnO, respectively The average diameters of rotation
for aggregates were 2.79 1.84 and 2.43 1.59 (Mean SD,
n > 100) m m for nano-ZnO and bulk-ZnO, respectively The size
distribution was similar between the two materials ( Fig 2 ) The
working solutions of nano-ZnO and bulk-ZnO had pH values of
6.5 e7.0 Dissolution of nano-ZnO and bulk-ZnO was estimated to be
7.1% and 4.8% respectively after correction for Zn ions recovery in
the filtration system.
3.2 Toxicity of nano-ZnO and bulk-ZnO
Concentration-dependent mortality in C elegans was observed
after 2-h exposure to nano-ZnO or bulk-ZnO under NSL ( Fig 3 (A)
and (B)) At an identical concentration, nano-ZnO caused greater
mortality than ZnO The 2-h LC50s for nano-ZnO and
bulk-ZnO were 38 (95% CI: 30, 45) and 65 (95% CI: 55, 78) mg/l of Zn,
respectively ( Table 1 ) No mortality occurred after 2-h exposure to ZnCl2under NSL For both materials, an extended 22-h exposure under AALL caused a signi ficant increase in mortality compared to the initial 2-h exposure under NSL ( Fig 3 (A) and (B)) With the 2-h NSL and 22-h AALL exposure combined, the 24-h LC50s for nano-ZnO and bulk-nano-ZnO were 17 (95% CI: 10, 25) and 38 (95% CI: 29, 50) mg/l of Zn, respectively ( Table 1 ) Again, this extended exposure under AALL did not cause mortality in C elegans for ZnCl2.
Fig 1 TEM images of nano-ZnO and bulk-ZnO in K-medium (pH¼ 6.8): (A) 10 mg/l nano-ZnO, (B) 100 mg/l nano-ZnO, with an estimated particle size of 60 25 nm (n ¼ 100),
256 nm (n ¼ 100)
Fig 2 Aggregate size distribution of nano-ZnO and bulk-ZnO suspensions using DIC microscopy The average diameters of rotation for these aggregates were 2.79 1.84 and 2.43 1.59 (Mean SD, n > 100)mm for 100 mg/l nano-ZnO and bulk-ZnO, respectively
H Ma et al / Environmental Pollution 159 (2011) 1473e1480 1475
Trang 4Neither nano-ZnO nor bulk-ZnO caused mortality in C elegans
after 2-h exposure under AALL, but both induced mortality after 24-h
exposure ( Fig 3 (A) and (B)) For nano-ZnO, this 24-h toxicity under
AALL was lower than 2-h toxicity under NSL; however, there was no
signi ficant difference between these two types of toxicity for
bulk-ZnO LC50s could not be determined for the 24-h AALL exposure
because of insuf ficient mortality; however, an extrapolation from the
concentration-response curves suggested that the LC50 for
nano-ZnO was approximately 60 e80 mg/l of Zn and that for bulk-ZnO was
even higher No mortality was observed for nano-ZnO or bulk-ZnO
exposure in the dark, regardless of the duration of exposure.
Mortality in control nematodes was below 10% for all tests conducted.
3.3 Methylene blue degradation
Methylene blue degradation was used as an indicator of
pho-tocatalytic activity/ROS generation by the ZnO particles ZnCl2did
not degrade MB, regardless of the illumination method or exposure
duration Under 2-h NSL exposure, concentration-dependent MB
degradation was observed for both nano-ZnO ( Fig 4 (A)) and
bulk-ZnO ( Fig 4 (B)) The maximum MB degradation (%) by nano-ZnO
and bulk-ZnO were 67% and 45%, respectively ( Table 1 ) A strong
positive correlation was found between C elegans mortality and MB
degradation (%) for both nano-ZnO (r ¼ 0.94, p ¼ 0.002, n ¼ 7) and
bulk-ZnO (r ¼ 0.90, p ¼ 0.005, n ¼ 7) MB degradation did not occur
during the extended 22-h exposure under AALL ( Table 1 ) Under
AALL, nano-ZnO and bulk-ZnO degraded MB by 7.5% and 5.2%,
respectively during 2-h exposure, and this degradation did not
increase as the exposure extended to 24 h ( Table 1 ) No MB
degradation by nano-ZnO or bulk-ZnO was observed in the dark,
regardless of the duration of exposure.
3.4 Lipid peroxidation
Elevated lipid peroxidation in C elegans exposed to 25 mg/l
nano-ZnO or bulk-ZnO compared to control was found under all
exposure conditions ( Fig 5 ) Signi ficantly greater lipid peroxidation caused by nano-ZnO than bulk-ZnO was only observed after 2-h NSL exposure Neither nano-ZnO nor bulk-ZnO caused statistically different lipid peroxidation between 2-h NSL and 2-h AALL sure Enhanced lipid peroxidation was also observed when expo-sure was extended from 2 h to 24 h, under both NSL and AALL.
4 Discussion Although several studies have investigated toxicity of ZnO nanoparticles to a variety of environmentally relevant species ( Franklin et al., 2007; Wang et al., 2009; Ma et al., 2009; Reddy
et al., 2007; Brayner et al., 2010 ), few have considered their phototoxicity ( Adams et al., 2006 ) The current study found that phototoxicity of nano-ZnO was substantially enhanced under NSL illumination compared to AALL or in the dark using C elegans as test organism Concurrent photodegradation of MB under NSL sug-gested this phototoxicity is associated with photoactivation/ROS generation of the nanoparticles A strong positive correlation (r ¼ 0.94, p ¼ 0.002, n ¼ 7) between C elegans mortality and MB degradation during 2-h NSL exposure suggested that photocatalytic activity of the nanoparticles may be a predictor for phototoxicity Several studies have documented increased antibacterial activity of ZnO nanoparticles under ambient laboratory light ( Applerot et al., 2009; Jones et al., 2008 ) or natural sunlight ( Adams et al., 2006 )
as compared to dark conditions, presumably due to photoactivation
of the nanoparticles The present study, however, demonstrates that photocatalytic ROS generation by ZnO nanoparticles under NSL can cause mortality to a terrestrial/aquatic organism e the nema-tode C elegans.
Phototoxicity of the ZnO nanoparticles is strictly dependent on illumination mode Nano-ZnO has band gap energy of 3.37 ev, equivalent to a wavelength of 368 nm ( Wang, 2004 ) Upon excita-tion by light with a wavelength less than 368 nm, electron ehole pairs are generated on the ZnO surface The holes in the valence band can react with H2O or hydroxide ions adsorbed on the surface
to produce hydroxyl radicals, and the electrons in the conduction band can reduce O2 to produce superoxide ions ( Maness et al.,
1999 ) Both of these radicals are extremely reactive with contact-ing biological molecules Photoactivation and the consequent phototoxicity of nano-ZnO occurred under NSL but not AALL The spectrum of natural sunlight used in this study can be roughly represented by a typical solar radiation spectrum ( supplemental Fig 1(A) ), although the dosimetry and spectrum of solar radiation
in a particular geographical location can be affected by a number of factors, such as, geographical conditions, atmospheric variability, weather conditions, etc ( Diamond et al., 2002 ) It is estimated that approximately 8 e9% of the total solar energy emitted from the sun
Nano-ZnO (mg/l)
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Bulk-ZnO (mg/l)
2h NSL 2h AALL 2h NSL+22h AALL 24h AALL
Fig 3 Toxicity of nano-ZnO (A) and bulk-ZnO (B) to C elegans under different illumination method (NSL-natural sunlight, AALL-ambient artificial laboratory light)
Table 1
LC50s for nano-ZnO and bulk-ZnO and the corresponding maximum degradation of
methylene blue (MB) by the two materials under different illumination method and
exposure time
2-h NSL 2-h AALL 2-h NSL+ 22-h AALL 24-h AALL
LC50 (%95 CI, mg/l Zn)
Nano-ZnO 38 (30,45) NA 17 (10, 25) 60e80
Bulk-ZnO 65 (55,78) NA 38 (29,50) >60e80
Maximum % MB degradation (MeanSEM, n¼3)
Nano-ZnO 66.94.5* 7.53.0 70.35.3* 9.84.2
Bulk-ZnO 44.66.1* 5.21.1 44.9+4.7* 6.43.3
NSL-natural sunlight, AALL-ambient artificial laboratory light.*p< 0.01
H Ma et al / Environmental Pollution 159 (2011) 1473e1480 1476
Trang 5falls in the UV region of the electromagnetic spectrum (6.3% UVA
(320 e400 nm), 1.5% UVB (290e320 nm)) ( Frederick, 1995 )
There-fore, the natural sunlight could ef ficiently activate ZnO
nano-particles and produce ROS, as indicated by signi ficant MB
degradation (70 4%), and consequently cause toxicity to the
nematodes In contrast, ZnO nanoparticles were marginally
acti-vated under AALL, as suggested by a subtle MB degradation of
7 3%, and caused no mortality to the nematodes The AALL used
typical “white cool” fluorescent lamps, and a typical light spectrum
of these lamps ( supplemental Fig 1(B) ) contains negligible amount
of UV ( <400 nm) light It is suggested that UV exposure from sitting
under fluorescent lights for eight hours is equivalent to only one
minute of sun exposure ( Lytle et al., 1993 ) Thus, the AALL cannot
activate the nanoparticles to cause toxicity These findings have
important implication in risk assessment for photoactive
nano-particles As most toxicity assays are conducted under standard
laboratory conditions, which do not perceive all risk factors;
exposure under natural sunlight conducted in this study represents
at least some range of potential exposure that may occur in the
environment.
It should be noted that the ZnO concentrations tested in
the present study are relatively high compared to those found in
the environment Current estimates of ZnO concentrations in the
environment range from the low m g/l to a few hundred m g/l ( Boxall
et al., 2007 ), and a more recent study by Gottschalk et al (2009)
reported modeled nano-ZnO concentrations in the environment
to be approximately 10 ng/l in natural surface water and 1 m g/l in
treated wastewater However, as ZnO nanoparticles are being widely used in a broad range of applications including personal-care products such as cosmetics and sunscreens, it is expected that their concentrations in the environment will increase continually ( Daughton and Ternes, 1999 ) Furthermore, results from these relatively high concentrations serve as a foundation for further investigation on phototoxicity of these nanoparticles at environ-mental relevant concentrations using more sensitive endpoints at cellular/subcellular and molecular levels.
Elevated lipid peroxidation after 2-h NSL exposure to both nano-ZnO and bulk-nano-ZnO con firmed that the phototoxicity is related to ROS generation by the ZnO particles and oxidative stress in the nematodes Although the current study did not directly identify the location of the phototoxicity in C elegans, two different modes of action may be proposed First, the ROS generation and resulting toxicity may occur at the surface of the nematodes Surface acting toxicity is not a new concept in ecotoxicology as certain toxicants can be adsorbed to the exterior surface of the organism and elicit toxicity ( Handy et al., 2008a ) This process has been implicated in the toxicity of TiO2nanoparticles to trout ( Federici et al., 2007 ) The
C elegans cuticle has an evenly distributed net negative charge at neutral pH ( Himmelhoch and Zuckerman, 1983 ), which may enhance particle aggregation on the surface of the animals via electrostatic interactions ( Wang et al., 2009 ) Particle aggregates attached onto the nematode cuticle was observed during exposure The C elegans cuticle is an extracellular matrix with a major component of collagen ROS such as superoxide radical anion or hydroxyl radical has been reported to cause damage to calf skin collagen by degrading the protein ( Monboisse and Borel, 1992 ) It is possible that intensive ROS generation by nano-ZnO under NSL caused lethal toxicity to C elegans through damaging the cuticle Another possibility is that nanoparticles were ingested by C elegans and the toxicity occurred internally C elegans unselectively ingest bacteria and fine particles that are less than 5 m m in size ( Donkin and Dusenbery, 1993 ), and its transparency and small body diam-eter allow for adequate UV penetration ( Coohill et al., 1988; Mills and Hartman, 1998 ) A measure of oxidative stress (e.g., lipid per-oxidation) within the nematodes may help to differentiate these two modes of action If ROS generation and phototoxicity occurred internally, oxidative stress would be a good indicator of the observed toxicity Greater lipid peroxidation in the nematodes after 2-h NSL exposure to nano-ZnO was consistent with the greater mortality caused by the nano-ZnO compared to bulk-ZnO, sug-gesting that the internal-acting mechanism might have been involved However, lipid peroxidation alone is not suf ficient to differentiate the two possible modes of action as oxidative stress within a multicellular organism may be mediated by a variety of factors in addition to the photocatalytic ROS generation Studies
0.000 0.050 0.100 0.150 0.200 0.250
Nano-ZnO (mg/l)
0.000 0.050 0.100 0.150 0.200 0.250
Bulk-ZnO (mg/l)
2h NSL 2h AALL 2h NSL+22h AALL 24h AALL
Fig 4 Methylene blue degradation by nano-ZnO (A) and bulk-ZnO (B) under different illumination methods (NSL-natural sunlight, AALL-ambient artificial laboratory light)
0
0.3
0.6
0.9
1.2
1.5
1.8
2.1
2.4
NSL+22h AALL 24h AALL
Nano
Bulk
∗
∗
∗
∗
∗
∗
Fig 5 Lipid peroxidation in C elegans after exposure to 50 mg/l nano-ZnO and
bulk-ZnO under NSL or AALL (NSL-natural sunlight, AALL-ambient artificial laboratory light)
(* p < 0.001, compared to control)
H Ma et al / Environmental Pollution 159 (2011) 1473e1480 1477
Trang 6using more direct and speci fic in-situ and/or in vivo techniques for
ROS identi fication including dichlorofluorescein fluorescence assay
(H2DCFDA) ( Xie et al., 2006; Kim et al., 2009 ) and Aminophenyl
fluorescein assay (APF) ( Setsukinai et al., 2003 ) are currently
undergoing to further understand the underlying mechanism of
the phototoxicity.
As phototoxicity of nano-ZnO associated with ROS generation
occurred in as quickly as 2 h under NSL, toxicity of nano-ZnO under
AALL was only observed after 24-h exposure This 24-h toxicity
under AALL was lower than 2-h phototoxicity under NSL ( Table 1 ),
and seemed to be mediated by mechanisms different from
photo-activation as no signi ficant MB degradation occurred concurrently
( Table 1 ) Dissolution and release of ionic zinc from nanoparticulate
ZnO has been recognized as a major contributor to its toxicity to
freshwater alga ( Franklin et al., 2007 ) and fish embryos ( Zhu et al.,
2008 ) Dissolution of nano-ZnO in the current study was estimated
to be 7.1% at the highest concentration tested, equivalent to 5.6 mg/l
of Zn This amount of zinc does not seem to be able to cause
mortality in C elegans, as aqueous ZnCl2at higher concentrations
did not cause mortality during 24-h exposure Elevated lipid
per-oxidation in C elegans exposed to nano-ZnO under AALL when the
exposure time was extended from 2 h to 24 h was consistent with
the dramatically increased toxicity ( Fig 3 ), suggesting that
oxida-tive stress is involved in this toxicity This non-photocatalytic
toxicity of the nanosized ZnO was also observed during the
extended 22-h exposure under AALL following 2-h NSL exposure,
causing a synergistic effect in C elegans mortality under the test
conditions when both NSL and AALL illumination were involved.
Zhu et al (2009) reported that toxicity of nanosized ZnO on
developing zebra fish embryos and larvae under ambient laboratory
conditions was not solely a result of particle dissolution; and the
authors proposed that the nano-ZnO aggregates might have elicited
toxicity by increasing ROS formation and/or compromising the
cellular oxidative stress response upon interaction with the
bio-logical system This particle-dependent, non-photocatalytic toxicity
of ZnO nanoparticles to aquatic organisms certainly warrants
further investigation.
Many studies on metal oxide particles such as TiO2 and ZnO
have demonstrated that nanoparticles induce greater toxicity than
their larger counterparts at equivalent mass concentrations, using
test species from rats/mice to bacteria ( Oberdörster et al., 2000;
Oberdöerster et al., 2005; Applerot et al., 2009; Jones et al.,
2008 ) Findings from the present study were in good agreement
with these studies, that the nanosized ZnO had greater MB degra-dation capability and phototoxicity compared to bulk-ZnO at the same mass dose The primary particle size of bulk-ZnO (550 256 nm) was approximately 10 times that of nano-ZnO (60 25 nm), and the latter had a specific surface area about four times of the former Several authors have suggested that total surface area may be a more appropriate dose metric to describe dose eresponse relationships than mass dose, especially when evaluating poorly soluble particles ( Oberdörster et al., 2000; Jiang
et al., 2008 ) Therefore, the methylene blue degradation and
C elegans mortality after 2-h NSL exposure were also plotted toward total surface area of the two materials ( Fig 6 ) Surprisingly,
MB degradation did not show signi ficant difference between nano-ZnO and bulk-nano-ZnO when normalized to unit surface area, and the bulk-ZnO seemed to be even more toxic than nano-ZnO This suggests that the greater photocatalytic ROS generation and phototoxicity observed in nano-ZnO is a pure effect of surface area rather than “nano-specific” effects (e.g., enhanced surface reac-tivity) This is not surprising given that the size of nano-ZnO particles (60 25 nm) used in this study is still rather large It is mostly at 10 nm and smaller that nano-speci fic effects to start to appear for ZnO particles ( Oberdöerster et al., 2005 ) Similarly,
a comprehensive study of the effect of particle size on ROS gener-ation in anatase TiO2found that a sharp increase in ROS generation per unit surface area occurs only for particles with a size range of
10 e30 nm, and relatively constant ROS generation per unit surface area are observed for particles below 10 nm and above 30 nm ( Jiang
et al., 2008 ).
In addition to primary particle size, aggregation of nanoparticles
in aqueous medium may strongly impact their reactivity ( Handy
et al., 2008b ), nanoparticle ebiological system interactions, and toxicity ( Grassian et al., 2007 ) Aggregate size has been found to be
a determining factor in the uptake and response of immortalized brain microglia to nano-TiO2 ( Long et al., 2006 ) and in the bioavailability of nanoparticles to plant roots, algae, and fungi ( Navarro et al., 2008 ) Nano-ZnO and bulk-ZnO formed similar-sized aggregates (approximately 2 microns) in test solution in the current study, yet the former exhibited greater phototoxicity than the later at an identical mass concentration Therefore, primary particle size appears to be more important than aggregate size in determining phototoxicity of ZnO particles This may be related to the greater accessible surface area of nanosized ZnO than its bulk counterparts in terms of ROS generation.
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Nano ZnO Bulk ZnO
0.000 0.030 0.060 0.090 0.120
0.150
0.180 0.210
Nano ZnO bulk ZnO
Fig 6 Toxicity of nano-ZnO and bulk-ZnO to C elegans (A) and methylene blue degradation (B) by the two materials after 2-h NSL exposure when dose is expressed as total surface area (NSL-natural sunlight, AALL-ambient artificial laboratory light)
H Ma et al / Environmental Pollution 159 (2011) 1473e1480 1478
Trang 75 Conclusions
This paper demonstrates that phototoxicity of nano-ZnO and
bulk-ZnO was dramatically enhanced under natural sunlight
illu-mination as compared to arti ficial laboratory light illumination.
This phototoxicity was well-correlated with photocatalytic ROS
generation of the ZnO particles, suggesting that photocatalytic
activity of such metal oxide nanoparticles may be a predictor of
their phototoxicity This phototoxicity under natural sunlight has
great implications for the environmental risk assessment of such
metal oxide nanoparticles as most toxicity assays are conducted
under standard laboratory conditions which do not perceive all risk
factors, whereas nanoparticles spilled or disposed into the
envi-ronment will inevitably be exposed to sunlight.
This study also found toxicity of both nano-ZnO and bulk-ZnO
under ambient laboratory conditions, which only occurred in
a longer timeframe and was less in magnitude as compared to the
toxicity under natural sunlight This toxicity was not related to
photocatalytic ROS generation Dissolution of the ZnO particles to
ionic zinc did not seem to be a major contributor to the observed
toxicity either This non-photocatalytic, particle-dependent toxicity
warrants further investigation These findings suggest that toxicity
of nanoparticles may be mediated by multiple mechanisms or
modes of action, depending on the physicochemical properties of
the nanoparticles as well as exposure conditions Toxicity resulting
from either mode of action should not be neglected during the risk
assessment of these nanoparticles.
Lastly, through comparing the phototoxicity of nano-ZnO and
bulk-ZnO by taking into account their primary particle size and
agglomerate size in the test medium, this study suggests that
primary particle size seems to be more important than aggregate
size in determining phototoxicity.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the United States Environmental
Protection Agency through Science to Achieve Results Grant
number 832530 The authors acknowledge Dr Stephen Diamond
for his constructive suggestions for improving the manuscript The
authors also acknowledge the Department of Physiology and
Pharmacology at The University of Georgia for use of the Bio-Tek
Synergy 4 microplate reader.
Appendix Supplementary data
Supplementary data related to this article can be found online at
doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2011.03.013
References
Adams, L.K., Lyon, D.Y., Alvarez, P.J.J., 2006 Comparative eco-toxicity of nanoscale
TiO2, SiO2, and ZnO water suspensions Water Research 40 (19), 3527e3532
Applerot, G., Lipovsky, A., Dror, R., Perkas, N., Nitzan, Y., Lubart, R., 2009 Enhanced
antibacterial activity of nanocrystalline ZnO due to increased ROS-mediated cell
injury Advanced Functional Materials 19 (6), 842e852
Boxall, A.C., Sinclair, C., Jones, A., Aitken, R., Jefferson, B., Watts, C., 2007 Current and
Future Predicted Environmental Exposure to Engineered Nanoparticles UK
Central Science Laboratory, York
Brayner, R., Dahoumane, S.A., é;pré;mian, C.Y., Djediat, C., Meyer, M., Couté, A.,
Fiévet, F., 2010 ZnO nanoparticles: synthesis, characterization, and
ecotoxico-logical studies Langmuir 26 (9), 6522e6528
Brunet, L., Lyon, D.Y., Hotze, E.M., Alvarez, P.J.J., Wiesner, M.R., 2009 Comparative
photoactivity and antibacterial properties of C60fullerenes and titanium dioxide
nanoparticles Environmental Science and Technology 43 (12), 4355e4360
Colvin, V.L., 2003 The potential environmental impact of engineered
nano-materials Nature Biotechnology 21 (10), 1166e1170
Coohill, T., Marshall, T., Schubert, W., Nelson, G., 1988 Ultraviolet mutagenesis of
radiation-sensitive (rad) mutants of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans
Mutation Research 209, 99e106
Daneshvar, N., Rasoulifard, M.H., Khataee, A.R., Hosseinzadeh, F., 2007 Removal of C.I Acid Orange 7 from aqueous solution by UV irradiation in the presence of ZnO nanopowder Journal of Hazardous Materials 143 (1e2), 95e101 Daughton, C.G., Ternes, T.A., 1999 Pharmaceuticals and personal care products in the environment: agents of subtle change? Environmental Health Perspectives
107, 907e938
Diamond, S.A., Peterson, G.S., Tietge, J.E., Ankley, G.T., 2002 Assessment of the risk
of solar ultraviolet radiation to amphibians III Prediction of impacts in selected northern midwestern wetlands Environmental Science and Technology 36 (13), 2866e2874
Donkin, S.G., Dusenbery, D.B., 1993 A soil toxicity test using the nematode Cae-norhabditis elegans and an effective method of recovery Archives of Environ-mental Contamination and Toxicology 25, 145e151
Donkin, S.G., Williams, P.L., 1995 Influence of developmental stage, salts and food presence on various end points using Caenorhabditis elegans for aquatic toxicity testing Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 14, 2139e2147
Federici, G., Shaw, B.J., Handy, R.D., 2007 Toxicity of titanium dioxide nanoparticles
to rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss): gill injury, oxidative stress, and other physiological effects Aquatic Toxicology 84 (4), 415e430
Franklin, N.M., Rogers, N.J., Apte, S.C., Batley, G.E., Gadd, G.E., Casey, P.S., 2007 Comparative toxicity of nanoparticulate ZnO, bulk ZnO, and ZnCl2to a fresh-water microalga (Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata): the importance of particle solubility Environmental Science and Technology 41 (24), 8484e8490 Frederick, J.E., 1995 Ultraviolet climatology Photochemistry and Photobiology 61, 224e227
Gopalan, R.C., Osman, I.F., Amani, A., De Matas, M., Anderson, D., 2009 The effect of zinc oxide and titanium dioxide nanoparticles in the Comet assay with UVA photoactivation of human sperm and lymphocytes Nanotoxicology 3 (1), 33e39
Gottschalk, F., Sonderer, T., Scholz, R.W., Nowack, B., 2009 Modeled environmental concentrations of engineered nanomaterials (TiO2, ZnO, Ag, CNT, Fullerenes) for different regions Environmental Science and Technology 43 (24), 9216e9222 Grassian, V.H., Adamcakova-Dodd, A., Pettibone, J.M., O’Shaughnessy, P.T., Thorne, P.S., 2007 Inflammatory response of mice to manufactured titanium dioxide nanoparticles: comparison of size effects through different exposure routes Nanotoxicology 1 (3), 211e226
Hall, S., Bradley, T., Moore, J.T., Kuykindall, T., Minella, L., 2009 Acute and chronic toxicity of nano-scale TiO2particles to freshwaterfish, cladocerans, and green algae, and effects of organic and inorganic substrate on TiO2toxicity Nano-toxicology 3 (2), 91e97
Handy, R., Owen, R., Valsami-Jones, E., 2008a The ecotoxicology of nanoparticles and nanomaterials: current status, knowledge gaps, challenges, and future needs Ecotoxicology 17 (5), 315e325
Handy, R., von der Kammer, F., Lead, J., Hassellöv, M., Owen, R., Crane, M., 2008b The ecotoxicology and chemistry of manufactured nanoparticles Ecotoxicology
17 (4), 287e314
Himmelhoch, S., Zuckerman, B.M., 1983 Caenorhabditis elegans: characters of negatively charged groups on the cuticle and intestine Experimental Parasi-tology 55, 299e305
Houas, A., Lachheb, H., Ksibi, M., Elaloui, E., Guillard, C., Herrmann, J.M., 2001 Photocatalytic degradation pathway of methylene blue in water Applied Catalysis B 31 (2), 145e157
Jang, Y., Simer, C., Ohm, T., 2006 Comparison of zinc oxide nanoparticles and its nano-crystalline particles on the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue Materials Research Bulletin 41, 67e77
Jiang, J., Oberdörster, G., Elder, A., Gelein, R., Mercer, P., Biswas, P., 2008 Does nano-particle activity depend upon size and crystal phase? Nanotoxicology 2 (1), 33e42 Jones, N., Ray, B., Ranjit, T.K., Manna, C.A., 2008 Antibacterial activity of ZnO nanoparticle suspensions on a broad spectrum of microorganisms FEMS Microbiology Letters 279 (1), 71e76
Kim, J., Park, Y., Choi, K., 2009 Phototoxicity and oxidative stress responses in Daphnia magna under exposure to sulfathiazole and environmental level ultraviolet B irradiation Aquatic Toxicology 91 (1), 87e94
King-Heiden, T.C., Wiecinski, P.N., Mangham, A.N., Metz, K.M., Nesbit, D., Pedersen, J.A., Hamers, R.J., Heideman, W., Richard, E., 2009 Quantum dot nanotoxicity assessment using the zebrafish embryo Environmental Science and Technology 43 (5), 1605e1611
Lachheb, H., Puzenat, E., Houas, A., Ksibi, M., Elaloui, E., Guillard, C., Herrmann, J.M.,
2002 Photocatalytic degradation of various types of dyes (alizarin S, crocein orange G, methyl red, congo red, methylene blue) in water by UV-irradiated titania Applied Catalysis B 39 (1), 75e90
Leung, M.C.K., Williams, P.L., Benedetto, A., Au, C., Helmcke, K.J., Aschner, M., Meyer, J.N., 2008 Caenorhabditis elegans: an emerging model in biomedical and environmental toxicology Toxicological Sciences 106 (1), 5e28
Long, T.C., Saleh, N., Tilton, R.D., Lowry, G.V., Veronesi, B., 2006 Titanium dioxide (P25) produces reactive oxygen species in immortalized brain microglia (BV2): implications for nanoparticle neurotoxicity Environmental Science and Tech-nology 40 (14), 4346e4352
Lytle, C., Cyr, W., Beer, J., Miller, S., James, R., Landry, R., Jacobs, M.E., Kaczmarek, R.G., Sharkness, C.M., Gaylor, D., 1993 An estimation of squamous cell carcinoma risk from ultraviolet radiation emitted byfluorescent lamps Photodermatology, Photoimmunology & Photomedicine 9 (6), 268e274
Ma, H., Bertsch, P.M., Glenn, T.C., Kabengi, N.J., Williams, P.L., 2009 Toxicity of manufactured zinc oxide nanoparticles in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 28 (6), 1324e1330
H Ma et al / Environmental Pollution 159 (2011) 1473e1480 1479
Trang 8Maness, P.-C., Smolinski, S., Blake, D.M., Huang, Z., Wolfrum, E.J., Jacoby, W.A., 1999.
Bactericidal activity of photocatalytic TiO2reaction: toward an understanding of
its killing mechanism Applied Environmental Microbiology 65 (9), 4094e4098
Mills, D.K., Hartman, P.S., 1998 Lethal consequences of simulated solar radiation on
the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans in the presence and absence of
photo-sensitizers Photochemistry and Photobiology 68 (6), 816e823
Monboisse, J.C., Borel, J.P., 1992 Oxidative damage to collagen EXS 62, 323e327
Navarro, E., Baun, A., Behra, R., Hartmann, N., Filser, J., Miao, A.J., Quigg, A.,
Santschi, P., Sigg, L., 2008 Environmental behavior and ecotoxicity of
engi-neered nanoparticles to algae, plants, and fungi Ecotoxicology 17 (5), 372e386
Nel, A., Xia, T., Madler, L., Li, N., 2006 Toxic potential of materials at the nanolevel
Science 311, 622e627
Oberdöerster, G., Oberdöerster, E., Oberdöerster, J., 2005 Nanotoxicology: an
emerging discipline evolving from studies of ultrafine particles Environmental
Health Perspectives 113 (7), 823e839
Oberdörster, GF.J., Johnston, C., Gelein, R., Cox, C., Baggs, R., 2000 Acute pulmonary
effects of ultrafine particles in rats and mice Research Report/ Health Effects
Institute 96, 5e74
Priester, J.H., Stoimenov, P.K., Mielke, R.E., Webb, S.M., Ehrhardt, C., Zhang, J.P.,
Stucky, G.D., Holden, P.A., 2009 Effects of soluble cadmium salts versus CdSe
quantum dots on the growth of planktonic Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Environ-mental Science and Technology 43 (7), 2589e2594
Reddy, K.M., Feris, K., Bell, J., Wingett, D.G., Hanley, C., Punnoose, A., 2007 Selective
toxicity of zinc oxide nanoparticles to prokaryotic and eukaryotic systems
Applied Physics Letters 90 (21), 213902
Reeves, J.F., Davies, S.J., Dodd, N.J.F., Jha, A.N., 2008 Hydroxyl radicals (OH) are
associated with titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticle-induced cytotoxicity and
oxidative DNA damage in fish cells Mutation Research-Fundamental and
Molecular Mechanisms of Mutagenesis 640 (1e2), 113e122
Sayes, C.M., Wahi, R., Kurian, P.A., Liu, Y., West, J.L., Ausman, K.D., Warheit, D.B.,
Colvin, V.L., 2006 Correlating nanoscale titania structure with toxicity: a
cyto-toxicity and inflammatory response study with human dermal fibroblasts and
human lung epithelial cells Toxicological Science 92 (1), 174e185
Setsukinai, K., Urano, Y., Kakinuma, K., Majima, H., Nagano, T., 2003 Develop-ment of novelfluorescence probes that can reliably detect reactive oxygen species and distinguish specific species Journal of Biological Chemistry 278, 3170e3175
Shen, W., Li, Z., Wang, H., Liu, Y., Guo, Q., Zhang, Y., 2008 Photocatalytic degradation for methylene blue using zinc oxide prepared by codeposition and sol-gel methods Journal of Hazardous Materials 152 (1), 172e175
Sunada, K., Watanabe, T., Hashimoto, K., 2003 Studies on photokilling of bacteria on TiO2 thin film Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology A 156 (1e3), 227e233
Wang, Z.L., 2004 Zinc oxide nanostructures: growth, properties, and applications Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter 16, R829eR858
Wang, H., Wick, R.L., Xing, B., 2009 Toxicity of nanoparticulate and bulk ZnO, Al2O3 and TiO2to the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans Environmental Pollution 157 (4), 1171e1177
Williams, P.L., Dusenbery, D.B., 1990 Aquatic toxicology testing using the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 9, 1285e1290 Xie, F., Koziar, S.A., Lampi, M.A., Dixon, D.G., Norwood, W.P., Borgmann, U., Huang, X.D., Greenberg, B.M., 2006 Assessment of the toxicity of mixtures of copper, 9,10-phenanthrenequinone, and phenanthrene to Daphnia magna: evidence for a reactive oxygen mechanism Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 25 (2), 613e622
Zhou, L., Xu, J., Li, X., Wang, F., 2006 Metal oxide nanoparticles from inorganic sources via a simple and general method Materials Chemistry and Physics 97 (1), 137e142
Zhu, X., Zhu, L., Duan, Z., Qi, R., Li, Y., Lang, Y., 2008 Comparative toxicity of several metal oxide nanoparticle aqueous suspensions to Zebrafish (Danio rerio) early developmental stage Journal of Environmental Science and Health, Part A: Toxic/Hazardous Substances and Environmental Engineering
43 (3), 278e284
Zhu, X., Wang, J., Zhang, X., Chang, Y., Chen, Y., 2009 The impact of ZnO nano-particle aggregates on the embryonic development of zebrafish (Danio rerio) Nanotechnology 20 (19), 195103
H Ma et al / Environmental Pollution 159 (2011) 1473e1480 1480