The toxic influence and biodegradation of carbon nanofibers in freshwater invertebrates of the families Gammaridae, Ephemerellidae, and Chironomidae

Vladimir Chaika; Konstantin Pikula; Tatyana Vshivkova; Alexander Zakharenko; Galina Reva; Konstantin Drozdov; Alexander I Vardavas; Polychronis D Stivaktakis; Taxiarchis K Nikolouzakis; Antonios K Stratidakis; Manolis N Kokkinakis; Alexandra Kalogeraki; Tatyana Burykina; Dimosthenis A Sarigiannis; Aleksei Kholodov; Kirill Golokhvast

doi:10.1016/j.toxrep.2020.07.011

The toxic influence and biodegradation of carbon nanofibers in freshwater invertebrates of the families Gammaridae, Ephemerellidae, and Chironomidae

Toxicol Rep. 2020 Jul 28:7:947-954. doi: 10.1016/j.toxrep.2020.07.011. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Vladimir Chaika¹, Konstantin Pikula^{1

2}, Tatyana Vshivkova³, Alexander Zakharenko^{1

2}, Galina Reva¹, Konstantin Drozdov⁴, Alexander I Vardavas⁵, Polychronis D Stivaktakis⁵, Taxiarchis K Nikolouzakis⁶, Antonios K Stratidakis⁷, Manolis N Kokkinakis⁸, Alexandra Kalogeraki⁹, Tatyana Burykina¹⁰, Dimosthenis A Sarigiannis^{7

11}, Aleksei Kholodov¹², Kirill Golokhvast^{1

2

13}

Affiliations

¹ School of Engineering, Far Eastern Federal University Vladivostok, 690950, Russia.
² N.I. Vavilov All-Russian Institute of Plant Genetic Resources, Saint-Petersburg, 190000, Russia.
³ Federal Scientific Center of the East Asia Terrestrial Biodiversity FEB RAS, Vladivostok, 6900022, Russia.
⁴ G.B. Elyakov Pacific Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry FEB RAS, Vladivostok, 690022, Russia.
⁵ Laboratory of Toxicology, School of Medicine, University of Crete, Heraklion, Crete, 71003, Greece.
⁶ Laboratory of Anatomy-Histology Embryology, School of Medicine, University of Crete, Heraklion, Crete, 71110, Greece.
⁷ Environmental Health Engineering, University School of Advanced Studies IUSS, Pavia, 27100, Italy.
⁸ Hellenic Mediterranean University, Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Heraklion, 71004, Greece.
⁹ Department of Pathology-Cytopathology, School of Medicine, University of Crete, Heraklion, 71003, Greece.
¹⁰ Department of Analytical and Forensic Medical Toxicology, M.I. Sechenov University, Moscow, 119048, Russia.
¹¹ Environmental Engineering Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, 54124, Greece.
¹² Far East Geological Institute, Far Eastern Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladivostok, 690022, Russia.
¹³ Pacific Geographical Institute FEB RAS, Vladivostok, 690014, Russia.

Abstract

Carbon nanofibers (CNFs) are widely used in consumer products today. In this study, we assessed the effects of CNFs on the digestive system of three freshwater invertebrate species (Gammaridae, Ephemerellidae, and Chironomidae). The aquatic insects Diamesa sp., Drunella cryptomeria, and Gammarus suifunensis were incubated with the CNFs at the concentration of 100 mg/L during the 7-days period. Histological examination of the whole specimens and the longitudinal sections revealed no toxic effects of CNFs. However, a noticeable change in the structure of the CNFs accumulated in the intestines of the aquatic insects was found by Raman spectroscopy. The registered decrease in the relative proportion of amorphous carbon included in the CNF sample was found in the intestines of Diamesa sp. and D. cryptomeria. The registered effect can indicate a biodegradation of amorphous carbon in the digestive tract of these two insect species. In contrast, the decrease of highly structured carbons and the decrease of G-bonds intensity were registered in the digestive tract of G. suifunensis. This observation demonstrates the partial biodegradation of CNFs in the digestive tract of G. suifunensis.

Keywords: Biodegradation; Carbon nanofibers; Ecotoxicology; Freshwater insects; Nanotoxicology; Toxicity.