Earthworm sublethal responses to titanium dioxide nanomaterial in soil detected by ¹H NMR metabolomics

Environ Sci Technol. 2012 Jan 17;46(2):1111-8. doi: 10.1021/es202327k. Epub 2011 Dec 22.

Abstract

¹H NMR-based metabolomics was used to examine the response of Eisenia fetida earthworms raised from juveniles for 20-23 weeks in soil spiked with either 20 or 200 mg/kg of a commercially available uncoated titanium dioxide (TiO(2)) nanomaterial (nominal diameter of 5 nm). To distinguish responses specific to particle size, soil treatments spiked with a micrometer-sized TiO(2) material (nominal diameter, <45 μm) at the same concentrations (20 and 200 mg/kg) were also included in addition to an unspiked control soil. Multivariate statistical analysis of the (1)H NMR spectra for aqueous extracts of E. fetida tissue suggested that earthworms exhibited significant changes in their metabolic profile following TiO(2) exposure for both particle sizes. The observed earthworm metabolic changes appeared to be consistent with oxidative stress, a proposed mechanism of toxicity for nanosized TiO(2). In contrast, a prior study had observed no impairment of E. fetida survival, reproduction, or growth following exposure to the same TiO(2) spiked soils. This suggests that (1)H NMR-based metabolomics provides a more sensitive measure of earthworm response to TiO(2) materials in soil and that further targeted assays to detect specific cellular or molecular level damage to earthworms caused by chronic exposure to TiO(2) are warranted.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy / methods*
  • Nanostructures / chemistry
  • Nanostructures / toxicity
  • Oligochaeta / drug effects*
  • Soil / chemistry*
  • Soil Pollutants / chemistry
  • Soil Pollutants / toxicity
  • Time Factors
  • Titanium / chemistry*
  • Titanium / toxicity*

Substances

  • Soil
  • Soil Pollutants
  • titanium dioxide
  • Titanium