Chronic toxicity of double-walled carbon nanotubes to three marine organisms: influence of different dispersion methods

Kevin Wh Kwok (1, 2) , Kenneth My Leung (2) , Emmanuel Flahaut (3) , Jinping Cheng (4) , Shuk Han Cheng (4)

1 Duke University [Durham]
2 HKU - The University of Hong Kong
3 CIRIMAT - Centre interuniversitaire de recherche et d'ingenierie des matériaux
4 CUHK - City University of Hong Kong [Hong Kong]

Double-walled carbon nanotubes (DWNTs) are found in a variety of consumer products, but there are no ecotoxicity data of DWNTs into marine organisms. Materials & methods: Chronic toxicity of DWNTs was investigated with the diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana, copepod Tigriopus japonicus and medaka Oryzias melastigma. DWNTs were dispersed using sonication (so-DWNTs) and stirring (st-DWNTs) for comparison. Results: The median aggregation size (0.89 μm2) of so-DWNTs was smaller than that of st-DWNTs (21.8 μm2). Exposure to DWNTs led to growth inhibition of T. pseudonana with EC50s of 1.86 and 22.7 mg/l for so- and st-DWNTs, respectively. Population growth of T. japonicus was reduced to 0.1 mg/l for so-DWNTs and 10 mg/l for st-DWNTs. Growth inhibition in O. melastigma was observed at 10 mg/l for so-DWNTs but not for st-DWNTs

Mots clés: Ecotoxicity; Growth inhibition; Marine environment; Nanomaterials; Population effect

Domaines: Santé; Ecotoxicologie; Micro et nanotechnologies/Microélectronique

Kevin Wh Kwok, Kenneth My Leung, Emmanuel Flahaut, Jinping Cheng, Shuk Han Cheng. Chronic toxicity of double-walled carbon nanotubes to three marine organisms: influence of different dispersion methods. Nanomedicine, 2010, vol. 5 (n° 6), pp. 951-961. ⟨10.2217/nnm.10.59⟩. ⟨hal-01562933⟩