Saltwater ecotoxicology of Ag, Au, CuO, TiO2, ZnO and C60 engineered nanoparticles: An overview.
This review paper examined 529 papers reporting experimental nanoecotoxicological original data. Only 126 papers referred to saltwater environments (water column and sediment) including a huge variety of species (n=51), their relative endpoints and engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) (n=38). We tried to provide a synthetic overview of the ecotoxicological effects of ENPs from existing data, refining papers on the basis of cross-cutting selection criteria and supporting a "mind the gap" approach stressing on missing data for hazard and risk assessment. After a codified selection procedure, attention was paid to Ag, Au, CuO, TiO2, ZnO and C60 ENPs, evidencing and comparing the observed nanoecotoxicity range of effect. Several criticisms were evidenced: i) some model organisms are overexploited like microalgae and molluscs compared to annelids, echinoderms and fish; ii) underexploited model organisms: mainly bacteria and fish; iii) exposure scenario variability: high species-specific and ENP scenarios including organism life stage and way of administration/spiking of toxicants; iv) scarce comparability between results due to exposure scenario variability; v) micro- and mesocosms substantially unexplored; vi) mixture effects: few examples are available only for ENPs and traditional pollutants; mixtures of ENPs have not been investigated yet; vii) effects of ions and ENPs: nAg, nCuO and nZnO toxicity aetiology is still a matter of discussion; viii) size and morphology effects of ENPs: scarcely investigated, justified and understood. Toxicity results evidenced that: nAu>nZnO>nAg>nCuO>nTiO2>C60.
Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, University Ca' Foscari Venice, Via Torino, 155, 30172 Mestre-Venice, Italy.
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Minetto
Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, University Ca' Foscari Venice, Via Torino, 155, 30172 Mestre-Venice, Italy.
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Volpi Ghirardini
Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, University Ca' Foscari Venice, Via Torino, 155, 30172 Mestre-Venice, Italy. Electronic address: giovanni.libralato@unive.it.
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Libralato
D000818:Animals; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000633:toxicity*; D008670:Metals / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000633:toxicity*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012623:Seawater / Q000737:chemistry; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000633:toxicity*
D008670:Metals; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
Ecotoxicity; Engineered nanoparticles; Saltwater species