In this study the environmental toxicity of procured silver (Ag) nanoparticles (NPs) and its equivalent Ag ion concentrations were determined using seed germination tests with Lycopersicum esculentum and Zea mays. Our results showed that AgNP exhibited more toxicity than its equivalent ion concentration by inhibiting root length and germination in a concentration-dependent manner. Interestingly, AgNP supplemented with bovine serum albumin was able to reduce the adverse effects induced by the particles. Lycopersicum esculentum was found to be more sensitive to the treatments than Z. mays. Thus, understanding of the transformations that NP undergo after interaction with environmental biomolecules is necessary to predict adverse consequences within ecosystems. © 2011 Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

Chandra Sekaran N

Centre for Nanobiotechnology

Vellore Campus

Amitava Mukherjee

Ravindran A

Prathna T.C

Verma V.K

Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) is a private university located in&nbsp;Tamil Nadu, India. Founded in 1984, as Vellore Engineering College, the institution offers 20 undergraduate, 34 postgraduate, four integrated and four research programs. It has campuses in Vellore, Amravati, Bhopal and Chennai.

VIT is one of the top ranked private universities in India according to NIRF, THE and QS Rankings.&nbsp;Govt. of India has recognized&nbsp;VIT, Vellore as an&nbsp;Institution of Eminence. This has allowed VIT to take independent quality initiatives and move up in world ranking.

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VIT University

Bovine serum albumin mediated decrease in silver nanoparticle phytotoxicity: root elongation and seed germination assay

Toxicological & Environmental Chemistry

From electronics such as nanodevices, nanochips to the use of nanoparticles in medicine, nanotechnology has developed rapidly due to the advancement in the field of nanoscience. Therefore, these nanoparticles are widely used in many industries and consumer products. Beneficial silver and platinum nanoparticles have been considered for our study. The toxicity of the silver and platinum nanoparticles was assessed on the representative seed systems Solanum lycopersicum (tomato) and Raphanus sativus (radish). The platinum nanoparticle which is said to be nontoxic was subjected to the toxicity testing. The nanoparticles employed in this study were produced by an ecofriendly green synthesis method. © 2013 IEEE.

International Conference on Advanced Nanomaterials & Emerging Engineering Technologies

Comparative assessment of the phytotoxicity of silver and platinum nanoparticles

Biofunctionalization of noble metal nanoparticles like Ag, Au is essential to obtain biocompatibility for specific biomedical applications. Silver nanoparticles are being increasingly used in bio-sensing applications owing to excellent optoelectronic properties. Among the serum albumins, the most abundant proteins in plasma, a wide range of physiological functions of Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) has made it a model system for biofunctionalization. In absence of adequate prior reports, this study aims to investigate the interaction between silver nanoparticles and BSA. The interaction of BSA [0.05-0.85% concentrations] with Ag nanoparticles [50 ppm concentration] in aqueous dispersion was studied through UV-vis spectral changes, morphological and surface structural changes. At pH 7, which is more than the isoelectric point of BSA, a decrease in absorbance at plasmon peak of uninteracted nanoparticles (425 nm) was noted till 0.45% BSA, beyond that a blue shift towards 410 nm was observed. The blue shift may be attributed to enhanced electron density on the particle surfaces. Increasing pH to 12 enhanced the blue shift further to 400 nm. The conformational changes in BSA at alkaline pH ranges and consequent hydrophobic interactions also played an important role. The equilibrium adsorption data fitted better to Freundlich isotherm compared to Langmuir curve. The X-ray diffraction study revealed complete coverage of Ag nanoparticles by BSA. The scanning electron microscopic study of the interacted nanoparticles was also carried out to decipher morphological changes. This study established that tailoring the concentration of BSA and pH of the interaction it was possible to reduce aggregation of nanoparticles. Biofunctionalized Ag nanoparticles with reduced aggregation will be more amenable towards bio-sensing applications. © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces

Studies on interaction of colloidal Ag nanoparticles with Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA)

Potential health and environmental effects of nanoparticles need to be thoroughly assessed before their widespread commercialization. Though there are few studies on cytotoxicity of nanoparticles on mammalian and human cell lines, there are hardly any reports on genotoxic and cytotoxic behavior of nanoparticles in plant cells. This study aims to investigate cytotoxic and genotoxic impacts of silver nanoparticles using root tip cells of Allium cepa as an indicator organism. A. cepa root tip cells were treated with four different concentrations (25, 20, 75, and 100 ppm) of engineered silver nanoparticles (below 100 nm size) dispersion, to study endpoints like mitotic index, distribution of cells in mitotic phases, different types of chromosomal aberrations, disturbed metaphase, sticky chromosome, cell wall disintegration, and breaks. For each concentration five sets of microscopic observations were carried out. No chromosomal aberration was observed in the control (untreated onion root tips) and the mitotic index (MI) value was 60.3%. With increasing concentration of the nanoparticles decrease in the mitotic index was noticed (60.30% to 27.62%). The different cytological effects including the chromosomal aberrations were studied in detail for the treated cells as well as control. We infer from this study that silver nanoparticles could penetrate plant system and may impair stages of cell division causing chromatin bridge, stickiness, disturbed metaphase, multiple chromosomal breaks and cell disintegration. The findings also suggest that plants as an important component of the ecosystems need to be included when evaluating the overall toxicological impact of the nanoparticles in the environment. © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Science of The Total Environment

Genotoxicity of silver nanoparticles in Allium cepa

Environmental Science & Technology

Assay-Dependent Phytotoxicity of Nanoparticles to Plants

Chemosphere

Evaluation of the ecotoxicity of model nanoparticles

Environmental Pollution

Toxicity of nanoparticulate and bulk ZnO, Al2O3 and TiO2 to the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans

Journal	Toxicological & Environmental Chemistry
Publisher	Informa UK Limited
ISSN	0277-2248
Open Access	0