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Biotoxicity of nanoparticles: effect of natural organic matter

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Abstract

Various natural organic matters (NOM) with different characteristics in aquatic environment may affect toxicity of leased nanoparticles, owing to interactions between NOM and nanoparticles. This study investigated the effect of NOM and physical characteristics of the effluent organic matter (EfOM) on the ecotoxicity of quantum dots (QD) using Daphnia magna. Organic matter samples were obtained from: Yeongsan River (YR-NOM), Dongbuk Lake (DL-NOM), Damyang wastewater treatment plant (EfOM), and Suwannee River NOM (SR-NOM). The QD was composed of a CdSe core, ZnS shell, and polyethylene glycol coating. The average size of the investigated QD was 4.8, 56.5, and 25.0 nm determined by transmission electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering, and asymmetric flow field-flow fractionation, respectively. The relative hydrophobicity of NOM was investigated using both specific UV absorbance at 254 nm and XAD-8/4 resins. The sorption of NOM on the QD was measured using a fluorescence quenching method. The highest hydrophobicity was exhibited by the SR-NOM, while the lowest was recorded for the DL-NOM. All tested NOMs significantly reduced the acute toxicity of D. magna when adsorbed to QD, and the order of effectiveness for each NOM was as follows: SR-NOM > EfOM > YS-NOM > DL-NOM. The sorption of NOM on the QD surface caused a decrease in the fluorescence intensity of QD at increasing NOM concentration. This suggests that the NOM coating influenced the physicochemical characteristics of QD in the internal organs of D. magna by inducing a reduced bioavailability. Results from this study revealed that NOM with relatively high hydrophobicity had a greater capability of inducing toxicity mitigation.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by a Grant of NOM NRL (No. R0A-2007-000-20055-0) through the KOSEF, and also by the Basic Research Project through a grant provided by GIST in 2010.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), 261 Cheomdan-gwagiro, Buk-gu, Gwangju, 500-712, Korea

    Sungyun Lee, Kitae Kim, Sang Don Kim & Jaeweon Cho

  2. Faculty of Engineering and IT, University of Technology, P.O. Box 123, Broadway, Sydney, NSW, 2007, Australia

    H. K. Shon

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  1. Sungyun Lee
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  2. Kitae Kim
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  3. H. K. Shon
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  4. Sang Don Kim
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  5. Jaeweon Cho
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Correspondence to Jaeweon Cho.

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Lee, S., Kim, K., Shon, H.K. et al. Biotoxicity of nanoparticles: effect of natural organic matter. J Nanopart Res 13, 3051–3061 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-010-0204-z

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