Reactive oxygen species generation is likely a driver of copper based nanomaterial toxicity

Abstract

of 13.7 ± 0.8 mg/L. This highlights the importance of considering zebrafish chorion status during nanotoxicological investigations, as embryo sensitivity increased by one order of magnitude or more when chorions were removed. Agglomerate size, zeta potential, and dissolved Cu did not sufficiently explain the differences in toxicity between Cu NPs and CuO NPs; however, reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation did. Cu NPs generated ROS in a concentration-dependent manner, while CuO did not and generated less than Cu NPs. We believe that the differences between the toxicities of Cu NPs and CuO NPs are due in part to their ability to generate ROS which could and should be a hazard consideration for risk assessments.