Nanoparticle transport and sequestration: Intracellular titanium dioxide nanoparticles in a neotropical fish

IARA DA C. SOUZA; VITOR A.S. MENDES; IAN D. DUARTE; LIVIA D. ROCHA; VINICIUS C. AZEVEDO; SILVIA T. MATSUMOTO; MICHAEL ELLIOTT; DANIEL A.WUNDERLIN; MAGDALENA MONFERRAN; MARISA N. FERNANDES

SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2019 vol. 658 p. 798 - 808

0048-9697

Intracellular titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2-NP) with rutile crystalline formand dimensions varying from 43 to 67 nm × 64 to 93 nm are reported for the first time as being sequestered from the environment. TiO2-NP were identified inside all organs/tissues (muscle, kidney, gonad, hepatopancreas and gill) in both the cytoplasm and nucleus of the neotropical fish Centropomus parallelus, captured in an area affected bymetallurgical activity.Atmospheric particulate matter (PM) sampled in the same area showed the presence of TiO2-NP with the same rutile crystalline formand dimensions varying from16 to 93 nm× 45 to 193 nm, thus indicating the smelting and iron processing industries as themost probable source of TiO2-NP. In any sample, chemical analyses identify and quantify Ti concentration and nanocrystallography identified the structure of TiO2-NP. The Ti concentration in the sediment and atmospheric PM varied between years and it was mirrored by the Ti concentration in the fish organs.The gill has a higher Ti concentration varying from 5.50 to 14.57 μg g−1 dry weight and the gonad was the organ with lowest Ti level, 0.25 to 0.87 μg g−1 dry weight. In the muscles, Ti concentration varied from 0.85 to 3.34 μg g−1 dry weight. This contamination may be likely to affect the surrounding biota and food uptake,