Abstract
Caenorhabditis elegans has emerged in recent times as a plausible metazoan model to study environmental toxicity, particularly caused by engineered nanomaterials. With the increasing applications of gold, silver, titanium, zinc, and many other nanomaterials in food, medicine, cosmetics, and other consumer products, the concern for their safety and impact on environmental quality has also heightened. This chapter includes a short review of current investigations conducted to evaluate the interactions of metallic nanomaterials with the ubiquitous nematode, C. elegans from the molecular to phenotypic levels. Studies broadly show metallic nanoparticles at their environmental concentrations affect the growth, survival, and reproduction negatively in this organism, with some of the aberration in reproduction having transgenerational effects mediated by the germ-line toxicity. The range of toxicity includes effects on the worm’s neuron-related behavioral phenotypes such as movement (body bends and thrashes), egg laying, reduction of progeny, and bag of worms (BOW) phenomenon, which occur as a consequence of the neurological damage. Some studies also indicate potential immunotoxicity and loss of resistance in the worm against common pathogens as a result of exposure. Mechanistic studies though reflect a range of physiological and biochemical changes including alterations in the transcriptional and translational patterns and apoptosis of somatic or germ cells, but oxidative stress coupled with ROS production seem to be the central axis of toxicity generating different aberrant phenotypes.
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Cox, A., Sharma, N. (2021). Caenorhabditis elegans: A Unique Animal Model to Study Soil–Nanoparticles–Organism Interactions. In: Sharma, N., Sahi, S. (eds) Nanomaterial Biointeractions at the Cellular, Organismal and System Levels. Nanotechnology in the Life Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65792-5_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65792-5_3
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