Common Strategies and Technologies for the Ecosafety Assessment and Design of Nanomaterials Entering the Marine Environment

Abstract

The widespread use of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) in a variety of technologies and consumer products inevitably causes their release\ud into aquatic environments and final deposition into the oceans. In addition, a growing number of ENM products are being developed specifically for marine\ud applications, such as antifouling coatings and environmental remediation systems, thus increasing the need to address any potential risks for marine\ud organisms and ecosystems. To safeguard the marine environment, major scientific gaps related to assessing and designing ecosafe ENMs need to be filled.\ud In this Nano Focus, we examine key issues related to the state-of-the-art models and analytical tools being developed to understand ecological risksand to design safeguards for marine organisms

Toxicokinetics and tissue distribution of cadmium-based Quantum Dots in the marine mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis

“…Estuarine and coastal environments are the potential sinks for ENPs, where behavior, bioavailability, fate, ecological and toxicological impacts depend on their intrinsic physico-chemical properties (size, shape, crystallography, composition surface charge and chemistry), characteristics of the surrounding media (salinity, pH, water hardness) and presence of organic and inorganic components (Lowry et al, 2012;Misra et al, 2012;Sousa and Teixeira, 2013;Corsi et al, 2014). The AGNES and SCPs results show that several different Cd physico-chemical forms exist during exposure of mussels to CdTe QDs: 72% are small and larger homo-aggregates of CdTe QDs while 27.6% is free ionic Cd (Cd 2þ ), inorganic (CdCl þ and CdCl 2 ) and organic Cd complexes resulting from Cd release from the QDs core (Cd-NOM-complex).…”

“…In contrast, the impact of Cdbased QDs in the aquatic organisms remains unclear. Bivalve molluscs are a target group for ENPs ecotoxicology because they uptake, accumulate, transform, store and biodeposit ENPs (Moore, 2006;Canesi et al, 2012;Montes et al, 2012;Corsi et al, 2014). Furthermore, ENPs accumulated by bivalves are potentially transferred in aquatic food webs (Farrell and Nelson, 2013).…”

Sea urchin immune cells as sentinels of environmental stress

“…stannum oxide (SnO2), cerium oxide (CeO2), and iron oxide (Fe3O4) (Falugi et al, 2012;Matranga and Corsi, 2012;Corsi et al, 2014). After 5 days of exposure, nanoaggregates/agglomerates were found inside sea urchin immune cells, causing subcellular modifications of the trans-Golgi and the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) compartments.…”

Phytotoxicity of ionic, micro- and nano-sized iron in three plant species

“…Engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) have a promising use in many areas including catalysis, optics, biology, agriculture, and microelectronics (Wu et al, 2012;Libralato et al, 2013;Corsi et al, 2014;Libralato, 2014;Minetto et al, 2014). Further applications are currently focused on environmental remediation due to their likely performance in contamination removal and toxicity mitigation (Gavaskar et al, 2005;Tratnyek and Johnson, 2006).…”