Abstract
Nanotechnology, as one of the fastest-growing industries, offers many benefits in various fields. However, properties that contribute to its positive effects, in other context, can cause adverse effects to various organisms, such as amphibians. Identifying possible negative effects on its survival is crucial since amphibians are the most threatened group of vertebrates. In that context, we investigated the influence of both nano and bulk copper on embryonic development of agile frog, Rana dalmatina. The embryos were exposed to various concentrations (0.01 mg/L, 0.075 mg/L, 0.15 mg/L or 0.3 mg/L) of either nano (CuO, declared size 40–80 nm) or bulk form (CuSO4·5H2O) for 16 days. Upon the experiment, tadpoles were measured and weighted, then homogenized and their protein, lipid, and carbohydrates content determined, as well as the activity of LDH. Our results suggest stronger negative influence of nano copper to size and weight of tadpoles, and bulk copper on lipid content, while both had strong negative effect on carbohydrates content, and LDH activity. In addition, our results suggest agile frog to be more susceptible to negative influence of both, nano and bulk copper, than commonly used Xenopus laevis.
Highlights
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Nano copper had stronger effect on size and weight of agile frog.
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Bulk copper had more effect on lipid content of agile frog.
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Carbohydrates and LDH activity were negatively influenced by nano and bulk copper.
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Agile frog is more sensitive to bulk and nano copper than X. laevis.
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Data Availability
Data, associated metadata, and calculation tools are available from the corresponding author.
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Acknowledgements
Lab work was financially supported through DEFENSoil project (Diverse Effects of Environmentally Relevant Metal-based Nanoparticle and Pesticide Mixtures on Soil Fauna: A Novel Issue for Risk Assessment) financed by the Croatian Science Foundation (HrZZ) (grant number: IP-09-2014-4459). This research was conducted with the permission of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Energy UP/I-612-07/18-48/11 issued on March 5th 2018. We are very grateful to members of the Subdepartment of Quantitative Ecology who supported our work.
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OJG and NS carried out the experiment and analyzed the samples. BKH conceived and planned the experiment. OJG wrote the manuscript and all authors contributed to the final version of the manuscript.
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Lab work was financially supported through DEFENSoil project (Diverse Effects of Environmentally Relevant Metal-based Nanoparticle and Pesticide Mixtures on Soil Fauna: A Novel Issue for Risk Assessment) financed by the Croatian Science Foundation (HrZZ) (Grant number: IP-09-2014-4459).
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This research was conducted with the permission of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Energy UP/I-612-07/18-48/11 issued on March 5th 2018.
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Jovanović Glavaš, O., Stjepanović, N. & Hackenberger, B.K. Influence of nano and bulk copper on agile frog development. Ecotoxicology 31, 357–365 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-021-02506-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-021-02506-2