LAUSR

Metallic nanoparticles (MNs) have attracted scientists’ interest due to their advantageous properties on biomedical and engineering fields. Metallic nanoparticles can be synthesized and modified with appropriate functional groups to make it possible for drug delivery. Meanwhile metallic nanoparticles have been considered as one of the main pollutants in the aquatic environment. These heavy metal contaminations in aquatic environments, particularly in freshwater systems, have posed severe risks because their ability to produce toxicity in aquatic organisms. This process happens mainly for the effects of particulates rather than the release of dissolved ions. Some major metallic nanoparticles in the aquatic environment have been demonstrated acutely toxic to across a wide spectrum of aquatic species including freshwater Hydra (Tortiglione et al., 2007), nematode (Ahn et al., 2014; Ma et al., 2009), Daphnia (Allen et al., 2010; Li et al., 2010), zebrafish (Asharani et al., 2008, 2011; Bar-Ilan et al., 2009) and mice (Gajdosíková et al., 2006; Kim et al., 2006; Ziady et al., 2003). Nano-copper oxide (CuO-NPs), which has advantages of good sterilization, catalytic properties, thermal stability, has been widely used in coatings, waste water treatment, sterilization, biomedical ceramic materials, and other fields. Hence, it can inevitably enter into the environment and ecological system, and the corresponding environmental toxicology effect will be induced. CuO-NPs can be accumulated in different tissues after being absorbed by animals. It’s reported that the common mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis) mainly accumulate in the digestive gland after suction of CuO-NPs (Gomes et al., 2012), while mussels (Mytilus edulis) mainly accumulate in gill (Hu et al., 2014). CuO-NPs usually has a bad effect on animal cells and tissues after being absorbed. In vitro studies have found that CuO-NPs are toxic to different cell lines, such as human’s liver cells, renal cells as well as epithelial cells of the African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis), which will cause the stagnation of the cell cycle, affect cell proliferation and lead to apoptosis and so on (Wang et al., 2011; Xu et al., 2013; Thit et al., 2013).