Investigation of the effects of copper and copper oxide nanoparticles on the Artemia salina accumulation, elimination and oxidative stress

As the use of products containing nanoparticles (NPs) (<100 nm) increased, the aquatic systems and the organisms forming the food chain were at risk from the action of NPs released as a result of anthropogenic activities. In this study, nanotoxicity tests were performed by exposing Artemia salina which is one of the primary consumer zooplankton species living in sea water to metal based copper (Cu) and copper oxide (CuO) NPs. A total of 7 groups (Control, 0,2 ppm, 1 ppm, 5 ppm, 10 ppm, 25 ppm and 50 ppm) were formed in the experiment and three replicates were studied. Characterization of Cu and CuO NPs used in the study; Transmission / Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM), Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS), Zeta Potential, X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Fourier Transformation Infrared (FT-IR) and UV-Visible Spectroscopy were performed. In organisms, the accumulation and elimination rate of NPs was determined by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) analysis. NP effects in zooplankton were visualized by phase contrast microscopy. The toxic effects of zooplankton were investigated by glutathione (GSH) and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) which are among the indicators of mortality and oxidative stress. It was determined that Cu NPs caused partial increases in GSH levels at 24th, 48th and 72th hours of the study. In the A. salina organism exposed to Cu (60-80 nm) NP, the TBARS value increased in parallel with the increasing concentration ratios and the highest increase was observed at the 24th hour of the 5 ppm group. The results showed that there were differences in the accumulation and elimination rates of NPs, although the NPs showed different effects on organisms. The accumulation rates in Cu NPs showed an increase at 0,2 and 1 ppm concentrations at 48 hours and a decrease trend at 72 hours, and at all other concentrations there was an increase trend in parallel with the increase in time. In CuO (40 nm) NPs, except for the concentration of 10 ppm, there was a decrease in the 48th hour and an increase in 72 hours, and the difference between the time averages in 10 ppm concentration was not significant (p> 0.05). LC50 values of Cu (60-80 nm) NPs were found as 52.37 mg / L and CuO (40nm) NPs were found LC50 value 55.39 mg / L. It was observed that the metal ion releases of NPs differed in each NP. It was observed that the surfaces of zooplanktons exposed to NPs were wrapped with NPs. As a result of multidimensional analyzes, it is seen that Cu and CuO NPs accumulate in organism and they have toxic effects in experimental organism and they cause oxidative stress with parallelism. It has been determined that this nano-sized material can be a big problem for the environment with increasing usage areas. Accordingly, NPs taken by organisms in the food chain may pose a danger to higher consumer organisms when they accumulate in the tissue. A control mechanism for the use and transmission of these particles should be established and further studies on their effects should be carried out. Keywords: Nanoparticle, Cu, CuO, Characterization, Zooplankton, Nanotoxicity, Accumulation, Oxidative stress.