Genotoxicity and Reproductive Toxicity of Cobalt Nanoparticles in C. Elegans

Overview

Cobalt nanoparticles, valued for their magnetic and catalytic properties, are employed in a growing number of industrial and medical applications. Workers in industries involving cobalt nanoparticles are at risk of coming into contact with these particles through inhalation or physical contact. As the production of nanoparticles increases, the amount released into the environment has also risen, causing increased risk of exposure for wildlife. Most studies exploring the effects of nanoparticle exposure use direct administration into the tissue or bloodstream of subjects. This study investigates the potential genotoxicity and reproductive toxicity of cobalt nanoparticles through environmental exposure to better simulate how wildlife or industry workers may encounter them. C. elegans were exposed to cobalt nanoparticles an average of 28nm and 200nm diameter at concentrations of 250mg/L, 100mg/L, 50mg/L, with 0mg/L as a negative control. The egg laying rate, egg hatching rate, and living rate of the worms were measured over 5 days to determine if cobalt nanoparticles presented any toxic effects. A comet assay was performed on the exposed C. elegans to test for DNA damage. Exposure to the 2 most concentrated suspensions of a small nanoparticle size (28nm) was found to cause significant decreases to the egg laying rate, egg hatching rate, and living rate when compared to the control (P=0.032, 2.598 x 10-5, and 0.0014 for 250mg/L, respectively). Exposure to a larger particle size did not induce significant changes to the 3 measured variables at any concentration. Exposure to the most concentrated suspension of 28nm particles for over 24 hours resulted in increases to the tail DNA percent in the comet assay, suggesting increased DNA strand breaks. The findings from this study suggest that cobalt particles of a nano-size (<200nm) on the surface of the C. elegans surroundings can be taken up and interfere with the organism’s reproduction. Larger cobalt particles are less of a threat to the organism’s normal functions, suggesting a larger size may limit uptake and/or the particle’s ability to enter tissue and cells. These results suggest the reduction of cobalt particles to a nano-size significantly increases the danger they pose to organisms that come into contact with them, and can have pronounced effects on the health of organisms exposed to relatively large concentrations of cobalt nanoparticles that may be present in or around an industrial setting.

Competition history

• AJAS 2020 Category not listed

Related projects

Closest projects by meaning, across every fair and year in the corpus.

Browse more like this

• AJAS None projects
• Every AJAS 2020 project