Nanoparticles have many applications in medicine and biology but they have adverse toxic effects on the biosystem. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the toxicity of zinc nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) on the garden snail Helix aspersa. ZnO NPs were used at different concentrations for 7 days. The biomarkers of the oxidative stress and histopathology of the hepatopancreas were estimated. ZnO NPs significantly (p ≤ 0.05) increased catalase (CAT) with time- and concentration-dependent manner. Glutathione S-transferase (GST) activity was significantly (p ≤ 0.05) increased at the concentrations 35 μg/ml and 45 μg/ml after 1 and 3 days of exposure. The present results recorded also a significant elevation in malondialdehyde (MDA) level (time-/concentration-dependent), it was 3.2 ± 0.1, at concentration 45 μg/ml. ZnO NPs induced significant decrease in glutathione (GSH) content (8.7 ± 0.2 at 45 μg/ml) (p ≤ 0.05) at 7 days. Moreover, ZnO NPs induced histopathological alterations in the digestive gland of Helix aspersa. From these results, such biochemical and histopathological alterations in Helix aspersa is a suitable bioindicator of nanoecotoxicological effects.
Keywords: Biomarkers of oxidative stress; Helix aspersa; Histology; Zinc nanoparticles.