Toxicity assessment and bioaccumulation in zebrafish embryos exposed to carbon nanotubes suspended in Pluronic® F-108. Issue 6 (2nd July 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wang, Ruhung; N. Meredith, Alicea; Lee, Michael; Deutsch, Dakota; Miadzvedskaya, Lizaveta; Braun, Elizabeth; Pantano, Paul; Harper, Stacey; Draper, Rockford
• Is Part Of: Nanotoxicology. Volume 10:Issue 6(2016:Sep.)
• Page Start: 689
• Page End: 698
• Publication Date: 2016-07-02
• Subjects: Environmental toxicology -- ecotoxicology -- nanotoxicology -- nanotubes -- toxicology; Toxicology -- Periodicals; 615.9
• DOI: 10.3109/17435390.2015.1107147
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1743-5390

Abstract

Abstract: Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are often suspended in Pluronic® surfactants by sonication, which may confound toxicity studies because sonication of surfactants can create degradation products that are toxic to mammalian cells. Here, we present a toxicity assessment of Pluronic® F-108 with and without suspended CNTs using embryonic zebrafish as an in vivo model. Pluronic® sonolytic degradation products were toxic to zebrafish embryos just as they were to mammalian cells. When the toxic Pluronic® fragments were removed, there was little effect of pristine multi-walled CNTs (pMWNTs), carboxylated MWNTs (cMWNTs) or pristine single-walled carbon nanotubes (pSWNTs) on embryo viability and development, even at high concentrations. A gel electrophoretic method coupled with Raman imaging was developed to measure the bioaccumulation of CNTs by zebrafish embryos, and dose-dependent uptake of CNTs was observed. These data indicate that embryos accumulate pMWNTs, cMWNTs and pSWNTs yet there is very little embryo toxicity.