Abstract
In this study, the marine microalgae Skeletonema costatum and Nitzschia closterium were exposed to different forms of copper, such as a metal salt (Cu2+), a nano-metal (nano-Cu), and nano-metal oxide (nano-CuO). During a 96-h exposure to nanoparticles (NPs) and salt, the cell number, Cu2+ concentration in the culture medium, morphology, and intracellular amino acids were measured to assess the toxicity of the copper materials and the toxicity mechanism of the NPs. As results, the toxicity of Cu2+, nano-Cu, and nano-CuO to marine phytoplankton decreased in order. The EC50 values of Cu2+ and nano-Cu for S. costatum and N. closterium ranged from 0.356 to 0.991 mg/L and 0.663 to 2.455 mg/L, respectively. Nano-Cu inhibits the growth of marine phytoplankton by releasing Cu2+; however, nano-CuO is harmful to microalgae because of the effect of NPs. The secretion of extracellular polymeric substances by microalgae could also affect the toxicity of nano-Cu and nano-CuO to microalgae. S. costatum was more sensitive to copper than N. closterium. Cu2+, nano-Cu, and nano-CuO all reduced per-cell amino acids and the total output of algae-derived amino acids by affecting the growth of the phytoplankton. This study helps to understand the risk assessment of nano-Cu and nano-CuO to marine microalgae.
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Abbreviations
- EPS:
-
Extracellular polymeric substances
- HDD :
-
Hydrodynamic diameter
- IAA:
-
Intracellular amino acids
- IOM :
-
Intracellular organic matter
- IR :
-
Inhibition ratio
- N. closterium :
-
Nitzschia closterium
- NPs:
-
Nanoparticles
- S. costatum :
-
Skeletonema costatum
- SEM :
-
Scanning electron microscopy
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This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program [grant numbers 2019YFC1407802, 2016YFC1402101], the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 41876078], and the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province [grant number ZR2018MD016].
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Wenqiu Huang: term, conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, investigation, data curation, writing-original draft, validation, writing-review & editing.
Yuping Zhou: validation, methodology.
Ting Zhao: investigation.
Liju Tan: resources, funding acquisition.
Jiangtao Wang: resources, writing-review & editing, funding acquisition, supervision.
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Huang, W., Zhou, Y., Zhao, T. et al. The effects of copper ions and copper nanomaterials on the output of amino acids from marine microalgae. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 9780–9791 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-16347-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-16347-3