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Updated: Apr 16, 2026

Salinity-dependent Toxicity Assay of Silver Nanocolloids Using Medaka Eggs
Published on: March 18, 2016
Shifts in the metabolic function of a benthic estuarine microbial community following a single pulse exposure to
Virginia Echavarri-Bravo1, Lynn Paterson2, Thomas J Aspray1
1Heriot-Watt University, Centre for Marine Biodiversity & Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Riccarton, Edinburgh EH14 4AS, Scotland, UK.
Abstract:
The increasing use of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) as a biocidal agent and their potential accumulation in sediments may threaten non-target natural environmental bacterial communities. In this study a microcosm approach was established to investigate the effects of well characterized OECD AgNPs (NM-300) on the function of the bacterial community inhabiting marine estuarine sediments (salinity 31‰). The results showed that a single pulse of NM-300 AgNPs (1 mg L(-1)) that led to sediment concentrations below 6 mg Ag kg(-1) dry weight inhibited the bacterial utilization of environmentally relevant carbon substrates. As a result, the functional diversity changed, but recovered after 120 h under the experimental conditions. This microcosm study suggests that AgNPs under environmentally relevant experimental conditions can negatively affect bacterial function and provides an insight into the understanding of the bacterial community response and resilience to AgNPs exposure, important for informing relevant regulatory measures.
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