Advances on assessing nanotoxicity in marine fish - the pros and cons of combining an ex vivo approach and histopathological analysis in gills.

Advances on assessing nanotoxicity in marine fish - the pros and cons of combining an ex vivo approach and histopathological analysis in gills. Aquat Toxicol. 2019 Oct 13;217:105322 Authors: Mieiro CL, Martins M, da Silva M, Coelho JP, Lopes CB, da Silva AA, Alves J, Pereira E, Pardal M, Costa MH, Pacheco M Abstract The need to overcome logistic and ethical limitations of in vivo nanotoxicity evaluation in marine organisms is essential, mostly when dealing with fish. It is well established that medium/solvent conditions affect dispersion and agglomeration of nanoparticles (NPs), which represents a constraint towards a solid and realistic toxicity appraisal. In this way the pros and cons of an ex vivo approach, using a simplified exposure medium (seawater) and addressing gills histopathology, were explored. The nanotoxic potential of environmentally realistic concentrations of titanium dioxide NPs (TiO2 NPs) was also assessed, disclosing the morpho-functional effects on the gills and the possible uptake/elimination processes. Excised gills of the Senegalese sole (Solea senegalensis) were directly exposed in artificial seawater to 20 and 200 μg L-1 TiO2 NPs, for 2 h and 4 h. Semi-quantitative and quantitative histological analyses were applied. The normal morphology of the gill's epithelia was only slightly altered in the control, reflecting protective mechanisms against the artificiality of the experimental conditions, which,...
Source: Aquatic Toxicology - Category: Toxicology Authors: Tags: Aquat Toxicol Source Type: research