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Abstract
Limited information is available on the environmental behavior and associated potential
risk of manufactured oxide nanoparticles (NPs). In this research, toxicity of nanoparticulate
and bulk ZnO, Al(2)O(3) and TiO(2) were examined to the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans
with Escherichia coli as a food source. Parallel experiments with dissolved metal
ions from NPs were also conducted. The 24-h median lethal concentration (LC(50)) and
sublethal endpoints were assessed. Both NPs and their bulk counterparts were toxic,
inhibiting growth and especially the reproductive capability of the nematode. The
24-h LC(50) for ZnO NPs (2.3 mg L(-1)) and bulk ZnO was not significantly different,
but significantly different between Al(2)O(3) NPs (82 mg L(-1)) and bulk Al(2)O(3)
(153 mg L(-1)), and between TiO(2) NPs (80 mg L(-1)) and bulk TiO(2) (136 mg L(-1)).
Oxide solubility influenced the toxicity of ZnO and Al(2)O(3) NPs, but nanoparticle-dependent
toxicity was indeed observed for the investigated NPs.