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Acute toxicities of six manufactured nanomaterial suspensions to Daphnia magna

  • Nanoparticles and Occupational Health
  • Published:
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Abstract

The rapid growth of nanotechnology is stimulating research on the potential environmental impacts of manufactured nanomaterials (MNMs). This paper summarizes a comprehensive study on the 48-h acute toxicity of water suspensions of six MNMs (i.e., ZnO, TiO2, Al2O3, C60, SWCNTs, and MWCNTs) to Daphnia magna, using immobilization and mortality as toxicological endpoints. The results show that the acute toxicities of all MNMs tested are dose dependent. The EC50 values for immobilization ranged from 0.622 mg/L (ZnO NPs) to 114.357 mg/L (Al2O3 NPs), while the LC50 values for mortality ranged from 1.511 mg/L (ZnO NPs) to 162.392 mg/L (Al2O3 NPs). In these tests, TiO2, Al2O3, and carbon-based nanomaterials were more toxic than their bulk counterparts. Moreover, D. magna were found to ingest nanomaterials from the test solutions through feeding behaviors, which indicates that the potential ecotoxicities and environmental health effects of these MNMs cannot be neglected.

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Acknowledgment

This study was partially supported by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Science to Achieve Results Program (Grant # RD831713) and the Doctoral Education Funding of the Education Ministry of China (Grant # 20070055033).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Pollution Processes and Environmental Criteria (Nankai University), Ministry of Education, College of Environmental Science & Engineering, Nankai University, No. 94 Weijin Road, Tianjin, 300071, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaoshan Zhu & Lin Zhu

  2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85287, USA

    Yongsheng Chen

  3. College of Marine Science and Technology, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin, 300222, People’s Republic of China

    Shengyan Tian

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  1. Xiaoshan Zhu
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  2. Lin Zhu
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  3. Yongsheng Chen
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  4. Shengyan Tian
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Correspondence to Yongsheng Chen.

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Zhu, X., Zhu, L., Chen, Y. et al. Acute toxicities of six manufactured nanomaterial suspensions to Daphnia magna . J Nanopart Res 11, 67–75 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-008-9426-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-008-9426-8

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