Toxicity of Silver Nanoparticles to Marine Microalgae Chlorella Vulgaris

Abstract

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) has been widely used in various industries, thus inevitably released into the aquatic environment, including the coastal environment, which is under serious anthropogenic influences. This study assessed the toxicity of AgNPs （0.1 and 1.0 mg/L） in the absence and presence of 1μM cysteine on the marine phytoplankton Chlorella vulgaris exposed for 96 h. Results showed that AgNPs have a negative effect on Chlorella vulgaris, as demonstrated by a significantly decrease in chlorophyll content, increase SOD, CAT activity and MDA content. However, these indicators were not significantly affected by adding cysteine. Thus, these results imply that cysteine alleviated toxic effects of AgNPs. Further research on nanoparticles to aquatic organisms are needed, in order to better understand the ecotoxicological effects of nanoparticles.