Bioaccumulation but no biomagnification of silver sulfide nanoparticles in freshwater snails and planarians

Patrícia V. Silva*, Carlos Pinheiro, Rui G. Morgado, Rudo A. Verweij, Cornelis A.M. van Gestel, Susana Loureiro

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

    117 Downloads (Pure)

    Abstract

    Bioaccumulation studies are critical in regulatory decision making on the potential environmental risks of engineered nanoparticles (NPs). The present study evaluated the toxicokinetics of silver, taken up from sulfide nanoparticles (Ag2S NPs; simulating an aged Ag NP form) and AgNO3 (ionic counterpart), in the pulmonate snail Physa acuta and the planarian Girardia tigrina. The snails were first exposed for 7 days to Ag-spiked water, along with the microalgae Raphidocelis subcapitata upon which they fed setting up a double route exposure, and subsequently provided as pre-exposed food to the planarians. Ag toxicokinetics and bioaccumulation were assessed in planarians and snails, and potential biomagnification from snail to planarian was evaluated. Gut depuration was also explored to understand whether it constitutes a factor likely to influence Ag toxicokinetics and internal concentrations in the test species. Both species revealed Ag uptake in Ag2S NP and AgNO3 treatments, with higher uptake from the latter. Uptake by the snails was probably via a combination of water exposure and ingested algae provided as food, but ingestion of algae possibly had higher relevance for Ag uptake from the Ag2S NPs compared to AgNO3. For planarians, diet probably was the most important exposure route since no Ag uptake was observed in previous waterborne exposures to Ag2S NPs. Kinetics and internal Ag concentrations did not significantly differ between depurated and non-depurated snails or planarians. The planarians fed on snails revealed no biomagnification. To the best of our knowledge this is the first study investigating the toxicokinetics and biomagnification of NPs in planarians, and with that providing important data on the kinetics and bioaccumulation of NPs in a relevant benthic species.

    Original languageEnglish
    Article number151956
    Pages (from-to)1-10
    Number of pages10
    JournalScience of the Total Environment
    Volume808
    Early online date26 Nov 2021
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 20 Feb 2022

    Bibliographical note

    Funding Information:
    All the authors were funded by the project NanoFASE (Nanomaterial Fate and Speciation in the Environment), financed by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 646002. Thanks are due to FCT/MCTES for the financial support to CESAM (UIDP/50017/2020+UIDB/50017/2020), through national funds. PVS was supported by a PhD grant (SFRH/BD/52571/2014) by FCT ? Funda??o para a Ci?ncia e a Tecnologia. CP was supported by a FCT PhD grant (SFRH/BD/104744/2014) and by the project Fenomeno (ERA-SIINN/0002/2013), funded by FP7 ERA-NET (SIINN). RGM was funded by a Posdoc FCT grant (SFRH/BPD/123384/2016). Authors thank Mart? Busquets Fit? (Applied Nanoparticles, Barcelona, Spain) for the synthesis of the nanoparticles.

    Funding Information:
    All the authors were funded by the project NanoFASE (Nanomaterial Fate and Speciation in the Environment), financed by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 646002 . Thanks are due to FCT/MCTES for the financial support to CESAM ( UIDP/50017/2020+UIDB/50017/2020 ), through national funds. PVS was supported by a PhD grant ( SFRH/BD/52571/2014 ) by FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia. CP was supported by a FCT PhD grant ( SFRH/BD/104744/2014 ) and by the project Fenomeno ( ERA-SIINN/0002/2013 ), funded by FP7 ERA-NET (SIINN) . RGM was funded by a Posdoc FCT grant ( SFRH/BPD/123384/2016 ). Authors thank Martí Busquets Fité (Applied Nanoparticles, Barcelona, Spain) for the synthesis of the nanoparticles.

    Publisher Copyright:
    © 2021 Elsevier B.V.

    Funding

    All the authors were funded by the project NanoFASE (Nanomaterial Fate and Speciation in the Environment), financed by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 646002. Thanks are due to FCT/MCTES for the financial support to CESAM (UIDP/50017/2020+UIDB/50017/2020), through national funds. PVS was supported by a PhD grant (SFRH/BD/52571/2014) by FCT ? Funda??o para a Ci?ncia e a Tecnologia. CP was supported by a FCT PhD grant (SFRH/BD/104744/2014) and by the project Fenomeno (ERA-SIINN/0002/2013), funded by FP7 ERA-NET (SIINN). RGM was funded by a Posdoc FCT grant (SFRH/BPD/123384/2016). Authors thank Mart? Busquets Fit? (Applied Nanoparticles, Barcelona, Spain) for the synthesis of the nanoparticles. All the authors were funded by the project NanoFASE (Nanomaterial Fate and Speciation in the Environment), financed by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 646002 . Thanks are due to FCT/MCTES for the financial support to CESAM ( UIDP/50017/2020+UIDB/50017/2020 ), through national funds. PVS was supported by a PhD grant ( SFRH/BD/52571/2014 ) by FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia. CP was supported by a FCT PhD grant ( SFRH/BD/104744/2014 ) and by the project Fenomeno ( ERA-SIINN/0002/2013 ), funded by FP7 ERA-NET (SIINN) . RGM was funded by a Posdoc FCT grant ( SFRH/BPD/123384/2016 ). Authors thank Martí Busquets Fité (Applied Nanoparticles, Barcelona, Spain) for the synthesis of the nanoparticles.

    FundersFunder number
    FP7 ERA-NETSFRH/BPD/123384/2016
    Martí Busquets Fité
    Centro de Estudos Ambientais e Marinhos, Universidade de AveiroSFRH/BD/52571/2014
    Fundação para a Ciência e a TecnologiaSFRH/BD/104744/2014, ERA-SIINN/0002/2013
    Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior
    Horizon 2020646002

      Keywords

      • Benthic species
      • Dietary uptake
      • Nanomaterials
      • Toxicokinetics
      • Waterborne uptake

      Fingerprint

      Dive into the research topics of 'Bioaccumulation but no biomagnification of silver sulfide nanoparticles in freshwater snails and planarians'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

      Cite this