TY - JOUR
T1 - Transfer of gold nanoparticles from the water column to the estuarine food web
AU - Ferry, John L.
AU - Craig, Preston
AU - Hexel, Cole
AU - Sisco, Patrick
AU - Frey, Rebecca
AU - Pennington, Paul L.
AU - Fulton, Michael H.
AU - Scott, I. Geoff
AU - Decho, Alan W.
AU - Kashiwada, Shosaku
AU - Murphy, Catherine J.
AU - Shaw, Timothy J.
PY - 2009/7
Y1 - 2009/7
N2 - Within the next five years the manufacture of large quantities of nanomaterials may lead to unintended contamination of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. The unique physical, chemical and electronic properties of nanomaterials allow new modes of interaction with environmental systems that can have unexpected impacts. Here, we show that gold nanorods can readily pass from the water column to the marine food web in three laboratory-constructed estuarine mesocosms containing sea water, sediment, sea grass, microbes, biofilms, snails, clams, shrimp and fish. A single dose of gold nanorods (65nm length×15nm diameter) was added to each mesocosm and their distribution in the aqueous and sediment phases monitored over 12 days. Nanorods partitioned between biofilms, sediments, plants, animals and sea water with a recovery of 84.4%. Clams and biofilms accumulated the most nanoparticles on a per mass basis, suggesting that gold nanorods can readily pass from the water column to the marine food web.
AB - Within the next five years the manufacture of large quantities of nanomaterials may lead to unintended contamination of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. The unique physical, chemical and electronic properties of nanomaterials allow new modes of interaction with environmental systems that can have unexpected impacts. Here, we show that gold nanorods can readily pass from the water column to the marine food web in three laboratory-constructed estuarine mesocosms containing sea water, sediment, sea grass, microbes, biofilms, snails, clams, shrimp and fish. A single dose of gold nanorods (65nm length×15nm diameter) was added to each mesocosm and their distribution in the aqueous and sediment phases monitored over 12 days. Nanorods partitioned between biofilms, sediments, plants, animals and sea water with a recovery of 84.4%. Clams and biofilms accumulated the most nanoparticles on a per mass basis, suggesting that gold nanorods can readily pass from the water column to the marine food web.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=67651204434&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/nnano.2009.157
DO - 10.1038/nnano.2009.157
M3 - Article
C2 - 19581897
AN - SCOPUS:67651204434
SN - 1748-3387
VL - 4
SP - 441
EP - 444
JO - Nature Nanotechnology
JF - Nature Nanotechnology
IS - 7
ER -