A novel one-pot green synthesis of selenium nanoparticles and evaluation of its toxicity in zebrafish embryos

Abstract

Over the last 50 years, compelling evidence has accumulated on the beneficial role of selenium in human health. In the present study, different proteins were evaluated as reducing agents for the eco-friendly synthesis of selenium nanoparticles from an aqueous solution of sodium selenite. This method is a simple, low cost green synthesis alternative to chemical synthesis. The high conversion of selenium ions to selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) was achieved by a reaction mixture of 0.1 g bovine serum albumin and 0.1 g sodium selenite at a reaction temperature of 121°C for 20 min duration. The selenium nanoparticles were characterized by fourier transform infrared (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The FTIR spectral bands were sharp with strong absorption peaks at 1649 and 1551 cm(-1). SEM analysis of the synthesized selenium nanoparticles clearly showed the spherical shape with an average size ranging from 500 to 600 nm. The toxicity of SeNPs was evaluated using zebrafish embryos as a model system. SeNPs induced malformations in zebrafish embryos in a concentration-dependent manner. Selenium nanoparticles at 15-25 μg/ml concentration caused pericardial edema, tail malformation and decrease in heart rate in zebrafish embryos. Treatments with lower concentrations did not alter the heart rate or display any heart abnormalities. This study underlines the importance of identifying optimal SeNP concentration that could have potential therapeutic applications.

Zebrafish as a Model Organism to Study Nanomaterial Toxicity

“…Gold Adult and embryo [115,116] Silver Embryo and adult [117,118] Copper Embryo [119] Selenium Embryo [120] Platinum Embryo [121] Aluminium Adult [122] Metal oxide nanoparticles Zinc oxide Embryo [123] Copper oxide Cells, embryos and instars (fry) [124] Titanium dioxide Embryo [125] Cerium dioxide Early life stages [126] Magnesium oxide Embryo and larval stages [127] Silica Embryo [128] Iron oxide Life stages [129] Carbon-based nanoparticles…”

In vitro and in vivo characteristics of biogenic high surface silica nanoparticles in A549 lung cancer cell lines and Danio rerio model systems for inorganic biomaterials development

“…From this observation, it is inferred that the uptake of the homogenously dispersed SNPs reveals the same quantity of diffusion into embryos. However, it differs based on: (i) the particles' ionic nature and dosage, (ii) salt concentration and (iii) chorionic membrane treatments [35,36].…”

Oocyte exposure to ZnO nanoparticles inhibits early embryonic development through the γ-H2AX and NF-κB signaling pathways

“…Many animal models have been used to test NPs embryo-toxicity; these include zebrafish [2–8, 10, 11, 14–17, 20–22, 24–28, 31, 33, 35, 37, 38, 41, 43, 45–47, 49–51, 53–57, 59, 62, 64, 66–70], mice [1, 9, 12, 13, 42, 48, 52, 63, 71], rat [18, 19, 30, 32], chicken [36, 44], oryzias latipes [23, 29, 34, 58], Xenopus laevis [7, 60], sea urchin [40] Mytilus galloprovincialis (Lmk) [39], snail [61], and oyster [65]. Many different types of NPs have been tested using these animal models.…”

“…Many different types of NPs have been tested using these animal models. The most popular NPs are silver (Ag) NPs [1, 3, 8, 12, 13, 16, 22–26, 28, 32, 33, 34, 37, 38, 41, 43, 48, 49, 55, 56, 65, 66, 70], then zinc oxide (ZnO) NPs [3, 7, 14, 15, 18–20, 26, 40, 47, 62], gold (Au) NPs [3, 29, 30, 45, 46, 50–52, 55, 66, 67], titanium dioxide (TiO2) NPs [9, 16, 17, 21, 25, 28, 31, 39, 63, 69], silicon dioxide (SiO2) NPs [3, 26, 35, 58, 63], Cd NPs [3, 26, 53, 61], chitosan NPs [4, 42, 57], quantum tots [11, 60, 68], Cu NPs [25, 27, 64], platinium (Pt) NPs [44, 55] and other NPs including CoFe2O4, selenium, diamond, Ni, F2O3, and lead NPs [2, 5, 6, 10, 26, 27, 36, 45, 54, 59, 69, 71]. Although many articles have been published exploring the embryo-toxicity of NPs, only their toxic effects on different embryos have been investigated and very few studies have examined the underlying mechanisms.…”