Use of nontarget organism Chironomus sancticaroli to study the toxic effects of nanoatrazine

Abstract

Atrazine was banned by the European Union in 2004, but is still used in many countries. Agricultural research employing nanotechnology has been developed in order to reduce the impacts to the environment and nontarget organisms. Nanoatrazine was developed as a carrier system and have been considered efficient in weed control. However, its toxicity must be verified with nontarget organisms. In this context, the aim of the present study was to investigate ecotoxicological effects of solid lipid nanoparticles (empty and loaded with atrazine) and atrazine on Chironomus sancticaroli larvae, evaluating the endpoints: mortality, mentum deformity, development rate and biochemical biomarkers. The contaminant concentrations used were 2, 470, 950, and 1900 μg L −1 in acute (96 h) and 2 μg L −1 in subchronic (10 days) bioassays. An environmentally relevant concentration of atrazine (2 μg L −1 ) presented toxic and lethal effects towards the larvae. The nanoparticles loaded with atrazine showed toxic effects similar to free atrazine, causing mortality and biochemical alterations on the larvae. The nanoparticle without atrazine caused biochemical alterations and mortality, indicating a possible toxic effect of the formulation on the larvae. In the acute bioassay, most concentrations of nanoparticles loaded with atrazine were not dose dependent for the endpoint mortality. Only the atrazine concentration of 470 μg L −1 was statistically significant to endpoint mentum deformity. The atrazine and nanoparticles (with and without atrazine) did not affect larval development.The results indicate that Chironomus sancticaroli was sensitive to monitor nanoatrazine, presenting potential to be used in studies of toxicity of nanopesticides.

Effects of three tebuconazole nanopesticides on the survival of Daphnia magna

“…Moreover, the nanoparticles loaded with atrazine showed similar toxicity to free atrazine which led to mortality and biochemical changes in Chironomus larvae. 80 Similarly, in the present study, NLC–TBZ showed similar toxicity to free TBZ (Fig. 3B and Table 3) on the survival of D. magna .…”

“…It might be possible that lipid-based nanopesticides do not significantly alter the toxicity of the a.s. Albuquerque et al (2021) 80 tested solid lipid nanoparticles loaded with atrazine on the non-target organism, Chironomus sancticaroli , and they reported lethal effects at 2 μg L −1 atrazine (as an environmentally relevant concentration). Moreover, the nanoparticles loaded with atrazine showed similar toxicity to free atrazine which led to mortality and biochemical changes in Chironomus larvae.…”

“…In a study by Albuquerque et al (2021), 80 the NLC unloaded with atrazine in the tested concentrations (0.002, 0.47, 0.97, 1.90 mg L −1 ) showed toxicity to Chironomus larvae, and they suggested that the toxicity could be primarily affected by the composition of the nanocarriers as a possible toxic effect on the larvae.…”

“…Adjuvants are substances added to pesticide products or pesticide spray mixtures to enhance their performance and/or the physical properties of the spray mixture. 80 The adjuvant used in our commercial formulations might reduce the bioavailability of TBZ, leading to lower toxicity than pure TBZ. Meanwhile the presence of adjuvants and other components in commercial formulations can contribute to toxicity.…”

Avaliação dos efeitos tóxicos do tratamento de efluente doméstico por reator de leito fluidificado enriquecido com o anti-inflamatório diclofenaco em invertebrados aquáticos

“…Larvas de Chironomussp. são comumente observadas de ambientes eutróficos a ambientes oligotróficos, sendo re- O invertebrado bentônico de água doce C. sancticaroli vem sendo utilizado amplamente como organismo-teste em ensaios ecotoxicológicos nos últimos anos (MORAIS et al, 2014;RICHARDI et al, 2015;PALACIO-CORTÉS et al, 2017;BERNEGOSSI et al, 2019;PINTO et al, 2021b;ALBUQUERQUE et al, 2021). A seleção desse organismo se justifica, entre outras razões, pela sensibilidade e número de respostas expressas ao ser exposto a contaminantes ou amostras ambientais, como perda de variabilidade genética (COLOMBO-CORBI et al, 2017), alteração na atividade enzimática (REBECHI-BAGGIO et al, 2016) ou redução da fecundidade potencial medida pelo comprimento das asas (TRIVINHO-STRIXINO, 1980), além de outras variáveis observadas comumente em organismos dessa família (YOUBI et al, 2020).…”