Publications
NIBIOs employees contribute to several hundred scientific articles and research reports every year. You can browse or search in our collection which contains references and links to these publications as well as other research and dissemination activities. The collection is continously updated with new and historical material.
2009
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Anna Lewandowska-Sabat Siri Fjellheim Per Winge Atle M. Bones Torfinn Sparstad Carl Gunnar Fossdal Jorunn Elisabeth Olsen Odd Arne RognliAbstract
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Christian Guido Bruckner Matthias Labrenz Thomas Schott Jana Grote Klaus JürgensAbstract
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Lampros LamprinakisAbstract
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Silver nanoparticles constitute one of the most common nanomaterials used in consumer products today, and the volumes used are increasing dramatically. Silver is an element known for its acute toxicity to both prokaryotes and a range of aquatic organisms. While ecotoxicity studies on nano-sliver is being studied at species level for some aquatic organisms, corresponding studies on terrestrial organisms are lagging behind. Also, studies targeting functional endpoints rather than purely physiological aspects are lacking. We have compared two types of nano-silver differing in average particle size (1 and 20 nm) with respect to their inhibitory effects on a pure strain of the soil bacterium Paracoccus sp. Which is an efficient denitrifyer capable of transforming NO3 into N2. This process is an important step in the biogeochemical cycling of N, and one that may potentially produce large amounts of the potent green house gas N2O if impeded by environmental pollutants. The results show that nano-silver is highly toxic to denitrifying bacteria and that low amounts severely affect the process of denitrification. Studies using indigenous denitrifying bacterial communities incubated in the presence of different concentrations of nano-silver in soil slurries are under way and will provide data where soil constituents affect the bioavailability nano-silver in a close to realistic exposure scenario. The implications of the relationship between toxicity levels in pure cultures and soil slurries will be discussed regarding the bioavailability of nanoparticles as pollutants in terrestrial environments.
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Due to the exponential increase in production and marketing of engineered nanomaterials, concerns are raised about their inevitable spreading in the environment. Soils, with their high proportion of solid phase, are likely to constitute the major ultimate sink for engineered nanoparticles (ENPs). Regrettably, data are scarce on the potential environmental risks of ENPs on soil ecosystems. The main reason for this key knowledge gap was the lack of methodologies able to trace the ENPs in complex environmental matrices like soils, which already contain a high background of natural nanoparticles (e.g. clays, organic matter, iron oxides). Using neutron activation as a tracer technique enabled us to overcome this hurdle: neutron activated ENPs can readily be quantified by gamma spectrometry, in all kind of samples, including living organisms. Here we examined the uptake and excretion kinetics of cobalt (Co-NPs, APS 3.9 ± 0.8 nm) and silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs, APS 20.2 ± 2.5 nm) in the earthworm Eisenia fetida, as well as their internal distribution within worms. We compared the uptake, retention time and internal ditribution of Co-NPs and Ag-NPs with those of soluble salts of cobalt and silver. Earthworms were fed over a 28d period with horse manure contaminated with either neutron activated Co-NPs and Ag-NPs, or Co and Ag salts spiked with the radiotracers 60Co and 110mAg. Accumulation and excretion kinetics were assessed by gamma spectrometry on living earthworms along a three month period for silver treatments and a five month period for cobalt treatments. The patterns of accumulation were highly different for cobalt and silver. The concentration ratios [(Bq/g worm) / (Bq/g food)] after 28d uptake were 0.93 ± 0.36 and 2.02 ± 0.65 for Co-NP and Co2+, respectively, while corresponding values for Ag-NPs and Ag+ were 0.015 ± 0.016 and 0.054 ± 0.024, respectively. Almost all absorbed Co-NPs and Co2+ remained within the worms four months after transfer to clean soil, while Ag concentration ratios fell to almost zero within a few days. We investigated futher the distribution of Co-NPs and Co2+ in worms bodies by coupling autoradiography images of worm transects and gamma spectrometry on individual organs. The body wall, mainly composed of muscular fibers, and the reproductive organs (e.g. spermathecae and seminal vesicles) accumulated lower amounts of cobalt than the digestive tract. By far, the highest accumulation was found in the blood, namely in the pseudo-hearts.