LAUSR

It was hypothesized that interactions between emerging contaminants such as decabromodiphenyl ether (BDE-209) and nanoparticles (NPs) such as nano-SiO2 (nSiO2), can affect contaminant transport in the aquatic environment and its ecotoxicity. This study assessed the influence of nSiO2 on the uptake of BDE-209 by zebrafish embryo. The distribution of BDE-209 and nSiO2 on the external chorion and the internal embryo mass (i.e., dechorionated embryo) was measured. For single exposure of nSiO2 to zebrafish embryo, separately, results showed that nSiO2 accumulation on the chorion surface was higher than that in the dechorionated embryo. The nSiO2 accumulation on the chorion surface was 129-200 mg-nSiO2/g-chorion at 48 h post fertilization, hpf, of exposure time, whereas the equilibrium adsorption of nSiO2 on the dechorionated embryo was ca. 0.42-0.54 mg-nSiO2/g-embryo at 6 hpf. Results showed that the formation of nSiO2-BDE-209 associates promoted both extracellular and intracellular uptake of BDE-209 by zebrafish embryo, thereby increasing the bioconcentration of BDE-209 on the chorion surface and in embryo. The results also revealed that the accumulation of BDE-209 on the chorion was remarkably greater than that on the dechorionated embryo at 48 hpf. The uptake of BDE-209 was 17.2 ± 0.45 mg/g-chorion (or 86 ng-BDE-209/chorionated embryo) and 0.37 ± 0.01 mg/g-embryo (or 18.6 ng-BDE-209/dechorionated embryo), respectively, when co-exposure of zebrafish embryos to BDE-209 and nSiO2. Results from the SEM and EDS analysis revealed that nSiO2 already passed through the chorion and adhered to the embryo surface/mass.