Abstract
Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are applied in many products as antimicrobial agents and can be found in the environment. In this study, the uptake and elimination kinetics of silver nanoparticles in fish (Carassius auratus), via simultaneous water and dietary exposure, was investigated and compared with ionic silver (AgNO3). Silver concentration in the tissues of C. auratus after the uptake phase was similar between nanoparticles and ionic treatments. Upon exposure to nanoparticles, Ag concentration in the different tissues of C. auratus was significantly different (Ag[liver] > Ag[intestine] > Ag[gill] > Ag[muscle]). The liver presented the highest amount of Ag among all organs, and no elimination was detected throughout the elimination period. Our results suggest that once uptake of Ag occurs in fish, the elimination takes very long which may pose ecological implications for bioaccumulation.
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The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
Thanks are due to FCT/MCTES for the financial support to CESAM (UIDP/50017/2020+UIDB/50017/2020+ LA/P/0094/2020), through national funds. Fabianne Ribeiro received a PhD grant from FCT (SFRH/BD/64729/2009) by funding FEDER through COMPETE and Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade and by the Portuguese National funding through FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia. Susana Loureiro was “Bolsista CAPES/BRASIL,” Project No. 106/2013. The authors would like to thank Mr. Rudo Verweij (Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam) for performing the AAS measurements and Dr. Kerstin Jurkschat (Oxford University) for performing the nanoparticle characterization experiment. We are grateful for the comments of anonymous reviewers which improved the quality of this manuscript.
Funding
This study was partly supported by the European Commission through the projects NanoFATE, FP7 Programme CP-FP 247739, and NanoFASE; the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 646002; the project FUTRICA–Chemical Flow in an Aquatic Trophic Chain (FCOMP-01–0124-FEDER-008600; Ref. FCT PTDC/AAC-AMB/104666/2008); and FCT–Fundação para Ciência e Tecnologia, Portugal.
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Fabianne Ribeiro: conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, investigation, visualization, and writing—original draft. Carlos Pinheiro: investigation; Marta Monteiro: methodology and investigation. Cornelis A M Van Gestel: formal analysis, data curation, and supervision. Amadeu M.V.M Soares: supervision and resources. Susana Loureiro: conceptualization, methodology, funding acquisition, supervision, and project administrator.
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All procedures and handling of fish in this study were conducted according to the ethical procedures advised by the directive of the EU on animal welfare (European Commission, 2010) and authorized by the “DGAV—Direção Geral de Alimentação e Veterinária,” under the license nº 021661/2013.
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Ribeiro, F., Pinheiro, C., Monteiro, M. et al. Toxicokinetics of silver in the goldfish Carassius auratus under simultaneous waterborne and diet-borne exposures to silver nanoparticles. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 56079–56089 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-19717-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-19717-7