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Artemia salina : A microcrustacean to assess engineered nanoparticles toxicity
Author(s) -
Pecoraro Roberta,
Scalisi Elena Maria,
Messina Giuseppina,
Fragalà Giuseppe,
Ignoto Sara,
Salvaggio Antonio,
Zimbone Massimo,
Impellizzeri Giuliana,
Brundo Maria Violetta
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
microscopy research and technique
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.536
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1097-0029
pISSN - 1059-910X
DOI - 10.1002/jemt.23609
Subject(s) - artemia salina , brine shrimp , hatching , toxicity , larva , biology , nanoparticle , silver nanoparticle , nuclear chemistry , chemistry , toxicology , zoology , nanotechnology , materials science , ecology , organic chemistry
Abstract The focus of this work was to investigate the toxicity of different metal nanoparticles (gold nanoparticles [AuNPs], silver nanoparticles [AgNPs], titanium dioxide nanoparticles [TiO 2 NPs]) on brine shrimp Artemia salina . We investigated if nanoparticles could have an influence on hatching of cysts and on mortality of larvae. Larvae (also called nauplii) and cysts were exposed to NPs for 24 hr in artificial seawater on microplates. At the end of the test, we assessed the endpoint (immobility/death) for the larvae by a stereomicroscope. Nauplii that appeared completely motionless, were counted as dead, and the percentages of mortality were calculated for each treatment. Instead for the cysts, the percentages of not‐hatched nauplii for each concentration considered were calculated by counting the number of whole cysts. Currently, nanoparticles toxicity has been investigated in several research; in our study we highlighted the nontoxicity of TiO 2 NPs on A. salina nauplii as shown by low percentages of immobilization and on cysts because TiO 2 NPs do not affect their hatching. Despite AuNPs exerted toxic effects on hatching, they did not affect larvae development as well as TiO 2 NPs. Otherwise, AgNPs induced mortality of the larvae and inhibited cysts hatching.