Detection of silver nanoparticles inside marine diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana by electron microscopy and focused ion beam.

In the following article an electron/ion microscopy study will be presented which investigates the uptake of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) by the marine diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana, a primary producer aquatic species. This organism has a characteristic silica exoskeleton that may represent a barrier for the uptake of some chemical pollutants, including nanoparticles (NPs), but that presents a technical challenge when attempting to use electron-microscopy (EM) methods to study NP uptake. Here we present a convenient method to detect the NPs interacting with the diatom cell. It is based on a fixation procedure involving critical point drying which, without prior slicing of the cell, allows its inspection using transmission electron microscopy. Employing a combination of electron and ion microscopy techniques to selectively cut the cell where the NPs were detected, we are able to demonstrate and visualize for the first time the presence of AgNPs inside the cell membrane.

Effects of silver nanoparticles in diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana and cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of silver nanoparticles (AgNP) of different sizes toward two primary producer aquatic species. Thalassiosira pseudonana and Synechococcus sp. have been selected as representative models for the lower trophic organisms in marine and freshwater habitats, respectively. Time-dependent cellular growth was measured upon exposure to both AgNP and silver nitrate (AgNO(3)). In addition, AgNP behavior in freshwater and marine waters has been followed by CPS disc centrifuge, in the time frame of AgNP exposure studies, and the kinetic release of silver from AgNP of different sizes was measured by dialysis and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The combination and interpretation of all these data suggest that a shared effect of AgNP and released silver was responsible for the toxicity in both organisms. Furthermore, the toxic effects induced by AgNP exposure in the present study seem to result from a mixture of parameters including aggregated state, size of the AgNP, stability of the preparation, and speciation of the released silver.

Gene biomarkers in diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana exposed to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from contaminated marine surface sediments.

Marine diatoms have a key role in the global carbon fixation and therefore in the ecosystem. We used Thalassiosira pseudonana as a model organism to assess the effects of exposure to environmental pollutants at the gene expression level. Diatoms were exposed to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons mixture (PAH) from surface sediments collected at a highly PAH contaminated area of the Mediterranean Sea (Genoa, Italy), due to intense industrial and harbor activities. The gene expression data for exposure to the sediment-derived PAH mixture was compared with gene expression data for in vitro exposure to specific polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The data shows that genes involved in stress response, silica uptake, and metabolism were regulated both upon exposure to the sediment-derived PAH mixture and to the single component. Complementary monitoring of silica in the diatom cultures provide further evidence of a reduced cellular uptake of silica as an end-point for benzo[a]pyrene exposure that could be linked with the reduced gene and protein expression of the silicon transporter protein. However some genes showed differences in regulation indicating that mixtures of structurally related chemical compounds can elicit a slightly different gene expression response compared to that of a single component. The paper provides indications on the specific pathways affected by PAH exposure and shows that selected genes (silicon transporter, and silaffin 3) involved in silica uptake and metabolism could be suitable molecular biomarkers of exposure to PAHs.