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Toxic effects of colloidal nanosilver in zebrafish embryos
Author(s) -
Olasagasti Maider,
Gatti Antonietta M.,
Capitani Federico,
Barranco Alejandro,
Pardo Miguel Angel,
Escuredo Kepa,
Rainieri Sandra
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of applied toxicology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.784
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1099-1263
pISSN - 0260-437X
DOI - 10.1002/jat.2975
Subject(s) - toxicity , zebrafish , in vivo , embryo , silver nanoparticle , chemistry , bioassay , toxicology , food science , nanoparticle , pharmacology , nanotechnology , biology , biochemistry , microbiology and biotechnology , materials science , gene , organic chemistry , genetics
A variety of consumer products containing silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) are currently marketed. However, their safety for humans and for the environment has not yet been established and no standard method to assess their toxicity is currently available. The objective of this work was to develop an effective method to test Ag NP toxicity and to evaluate the effects of ion release and Ag NP size on a vertebrate model. To this aim, the zebrafish animal model was exposed to a solution of commercial nanosilver. While the exposure of embryos still surrounded by the chorion did not allow a definite estimation of the toxic effects exerted by the compound, the exposure for 48 h of 3‐day‐old zebrafish hatched embryos afforded a reliable evaluation of the effects of Ag NPs. The effects of the exposure were detected especially at molecular level; in fact, some selected genes expressed differentially after the exposure. The Ag NP toxic performance was due to the combined effect of Ag + ion release and Ag NP size. However, the effect of NP size was particularly detectable at the lowest concentration of nanosilver tested (0.01 mg l –1 ) and depended on the solubilization media. The results obtained indicate that in vivo toxicity studies of nanosilver should be performed with ad hoc methods (in this case using hatched embryos) that might be different depending on the type of nanosilver. Moreover, the addition of this compound to commercial products should take into consideration the Ag NP solubilization media. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.