Uptake, localization and clearance of quantum dots in ciliated protozoa Tetrahymena thermophila

Mortimer, Monika; Kahru, Anne; Slaveykova, Vera

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2014.03.021

Scientific article

English

Uptake, localization and clearance of quantum dots in ciliated protozoa Tetrahymena thermophila

Contributors

Mortimer, Monika; Kahru, Anne; Slaveykova, Vera

Published in

Environmental pollution, vol. 190, p. 58-64

Publication date

2014

Abstract

Protozoa as phagocytizing cells have been shown to integrate ngineered nanoparticles (NPs), while the mechanism, dynamics and extent of such uptake are unclear. Here our fluorescence microscopy data showed that CdSe/ZnS quantum dots (QDs) with primary size of 12 nm were readily phagocytized into the food vacuoles of Tetrahymena thermophila in a time- and dose-dependent manner. Twenty hours after the exposure to QDs in sublethal concentration the clearance of the QDs from the cells was incomplete suggesting that phagocytosis of QDs into food vacuoles was not the only pathway of uptake by T. thermophila. This was further proven by the results that the inhibition of phagocytosis did not lock the internalization of QDs into protozoans. This study provides a new insight into uptake and cellular trafficking of subtoxic oncentrations of nanoparticles that may, due to prolonged retention times in the cells, pose risks by potentially becoming available to higher trophic levels.

Keywords

Engineered nanoparticles
Uptake
Clearance
Phagocytosis
Endocytosis Bioaccumulation
Fluorescence

UNIGE affiliation entities

Faculté des sciences / Section des sciences de la Terre et de l'Environnement / Département F.-A. Forel des sciences de l'environnement et de l'eau

UNIGE research groups

Environmental Biogeochemistry and Ecotoxicology

Funding

Swiss National Science Foundation - Non-invasive continuous monitoring of the interaction between nanoparticles and aquatic microorganisms [131280]
Autre - Sciex-NMSch fellowship to M. Mortimer

Citation (ISO format)

MORTIMER, Monika, KAHRU, Anne, SLAVEYKOVA, Vera. Uptake, localization and clearance of quantum dots in ciliated protozoa Tetrahymena thermophila. In: Environmental pollution, 2014, vol. 190, p. 58–64. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2014.03.021

Article (Published version)

Identifiers

PID : unige:35663
DOI : 10.1016/j.envpol.2014.03.021

Additional URL for this publication

http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0269749114001122

Journal ISSN

0269-7491

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13/04/2014 10:51:00

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13/04/2014 10:51:00

Update

15/11/2024 15:45:12

Status update

15/11/2024 15:45:12

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15/11/2024 15:48:18

Uptake, localization and clearance of quantum dots in ciliated protozoa Tetrahymena thermophila

Contributors

Published in

Publication date

Abstract

Keywords

UNIGE affiliation entities

UNIGE research groups

Funding

Citation (ISO format)

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Identifiers

Additional URL for this publication

Journal ISSN

Technical informations

Creation

First validation

Update

Status update

Last indexation