Effects of copper nanoparticles on the development of zebrafish embryos

ENVR 97

Wei Bai, baiw@ihep.ac.cn, Hongyun Liu, baiwei2008@hotmail.com, Zhiyong Zhang, zhangzhy@ihep.ac.cn, and Yuliang Zhao, zhao-office@ihep.ac.cn. Lab for Bio-Environmental Effects of Nanomaterials & Nanosafety, Chinese Academy of Sciences and National Center for Nanoscience, Beijing, 100049, China
The present study examined the effects of copper nanoparticles (50-100nm) and ionic Cu2+ on the development of zebrafish embryos. The embryos were exposed to copper nanoparticle suspensions (0.01, 0.1, 1 or 10 mg/L) and the Cu2+ solutions of the same molarity, resepectively. The mortality, hatching rate and abnormalities of larvae were investigated at 24, 48, 72, 96, 120, 144 and 192 h post-fertilization. Results indicated that copper nanoparticles of low concentraion (<0.1mg/L) only affected the 48h hatching rate. However, higher concentrations (1.0 and 10 mg/L) of copper nanoparticles significantly reduced the hatching rate at all time points. Cu2+ showed stronger effects than that of the nanoparticles. Abnormalities of larvae were found in both cases. The solubility of copper nanoparticles in water seems not to be the only reason of the toxicity to the development of zebrafish embryos.