Nanotoxicological studies of carbon nanotubes in zebrafish

MARTINEZ CAROLINA SOLEDAD; CZARNOWSKI IAN; IGARTÚA DANIELA EDITH; ALONSO SILVIA DEL VALLE; PRIETO MARIA JIMENA

Quilmes

Simposio; II Simposio de Jóvenes Biofísicos; 2017

Carbon nanotubes are graphene sheet structures with a striking mechanicalstrength, chemical stability, exceptional electrical and thermal conductivity. Itsapplication in constantly growing, ranging from printer inks to drug delivery systems.Since the physicochemical properties of the compounds vary when they are produced atnanoscale, and that the environmental systems are dynamic, it is not possible topredict the hazards associated with the release of nanomaterials into the environmentboth for human and ecosystem health. So, it is necessary to carry out a comprehensiveanalysis of the toxicity of water and effluents by studying the behavior of newtechnologies in ecosystems.In this work, toxicological assays of multiple wall carbon nanotubes(MWCNTs) of different dimension were done (MWCNT A is short and width, MWCNTB is large and thin). Zebrafish were used as biomarkers due to their short developmenttimes. Tests done were acute toxicity (mortality), teratogenicity (hatching rate andmorphology), general developmental anomalies and tissue-specific toxicity(morphology and functioning of brain, heart and liver).Zebrafish embryo were incubated with 0.005-50 ppm MWCNTs, thenmortality, hatching rate and morphology were evaluated. Zebrafish larvae wereincubated with 0.005-50 ppm MWCNTs, next morphology (bent spine, jawmalformation, head opacity, liver opacity, yolk opacity, small head, tail malformation,and uninflated swim bladder) and functioning of brain and heart and were analyzed.No MWCNT was found to be lethal or teratogenic at the concentrations evaluated,although MWCNT A caused morphological abnormalities in larval development. Onthe other hand, both MWCNTs reduced the swimming activity of the zebrafish atdifferent concentrations, whereas no changes in heart rate were observed.The results were different for both carbon nanotubes, indicating a potentialdissimilar toxicity between MWCNTs, which could be due to the different dimensions.