Silver and carbon nanoparticles toxicity in sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus embryos

Abstract

Environment hazards and risks of engineered NanoParticles (NPs) have been debated in recent years. In this paper, the effects of silver (Ag) and carbon (C) NPs were explored in sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus (P. lividus) development. Fertilization and development of P. lividus up to the pluteus stage were assayed in the presence of increasing amounts of NPs. The embryotoxicity test performed on sea urchin P. lividus, from fertilization until the larva stage, revealed that both AgNPs and CNPs were embryotoxic since they caused embryo malformations and alteration of the normal progression through the development stages. Embryonic development was slowed down by AgNPs and sped up by CNPs. Interestingly, AgNPs-induced malformations led embryos to die in a concentration-dependent manner; while embryos bearing CNPs-induced malformations survived for a longer time.