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Considerations of Environmentally Relevant Test Conditions for Improved Evaluation of Ecological Hazards of Engineered Nanomaterials.

ABSTRACT: Engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) are increasingly entering the environment with uncertain consequences including potential ecological effects. Various research communities view differently whether ecotoxicological testing of ENMs should be conducted using environmentally relevant concentrations-where observing outcomes is difficult-versus higher ENM doses, where responses are observable. What exposure conditions are typically used in assessing ENM hazards to populations? What conditions are used to test ecosystem-scale hazards? What is known regarding actual ENMs in the environment, via measurements or modeling simulations? How should exposure conditions, ENM transformation, dose, and body burden be used in interpreting biological and computational findings for assessing risks? These questions were addressed in the context of this critical review. As a result, three main recommendations emerged. First, researchers should improve ecotoxicology of ENMs by choosing test end points, duration, and study conditions-including ENM test concentrations-that align with realistic exposure scenarios. Second, testing should proceed via tiers with iterative feedback that informs experiments at other levels of biological organization. Finally, environmental realism in ENM hazard assessments should involve greater coordination among ENM quantitative analysts, exposure modelers, and ecotoxicologists, across government, industry, and academia.

SUBMITTER: Holden PA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4967154 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Considerations of Environmentally Relevant Test Conditions for Improved Evaluation of Ecological Hazards of Engineered Nanomaterials.

Holden Patricia A PA Gardea-Torresdey Jorge L JL Klaessig Fred F Turco Ronald F RF Mortimer Monika M Hund-Rinke Kerstin K Cohen Hubal Elaine A EA Avery David D Barceló Damià D Behra Renata R Cohen Yoram Y Deydier-Stephan Laurence L Ferguson P Lee PL Fernandes Teresa F TF Herr Harthorn Barbara B Henderson W Matthew WM Hoke Robert A RA Hristozov Danail D Johnston John M JM Kane Agnes B AB Kapustka Larry L Keller Arturo A AA Lenihan Hunter S HS Lovell Wess W Murphy Catherine J CJ Nisbet Roger M RM Petersen Elijah J EJ Salinas Edward R ER Scheringer Martin M Sharma Monita M Speed David E DE Sultan Yasir Y Westerhoff Paul P White Jason C JC Wiesner Mark R MR Wong Eva M EM Xing Baoshan B Steele Horan Meghan M Godwin Hilary A HA Nel André E AE

Environmental science & technology 20160603 12

Engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) are increasingly entering the environment with uncertain consequences including potential ecological effects. Various research communities view differently whether ecotoxicological testing of ENMs should be conducted using environmentally relevant concentrations-where observing outcomes is difficult-versus higher ENM doses, where responses are observable. What exposure conditions are typically used in assessing ENM hazards to populations? What conditions are used ...[more]

PMID: 27177237

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Project description:Humans are exposed daily to complex mixtures of chemical substances via food intake, inhalation, and dermal contact. Developmental neurotoxicity is an understudied area and entails one of the most complex areas in toxicology. Animal studies for developmental neurotoxicity (DNT) are hardly performed in the context of regular hazard studies, as they are costly and time consuming and provide only limited information as to human relevance. There is a need for a combination of in vitro and in silico tests for the assessment of chemically induced DNT in humans. The zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryo (ZFE) provides a powerful model to study DNT because it shows fast neurodevelopment with a large resemblance to the higher vertebrate, including the human system. One of the suitable readouts for DNT testing in the zebrafish is neurobehaviour (stimulus-provoked locomotion) since this provides integrated information on the functionality and status of the entire nervous system of the embryo. In the current study, environmentally relevant pharmaceuticals and their mixtures were investigated using the zebrafish light-dark transition test. Zebrafish embryos were exposed to three neuroactive compounds of concern, carbamazepine (CBZ), fluoxetine (FLX), and venlafaxine (VNX), as well as their main metabolites, carbamazepine 10,11-epoxide (CBZ 10,11E), norfluoxetine (norFLX), and desvenlafaxine (desVNX). All the studied compounds, except CBZ 10,11E, dose-dependently inhibited zebrafish locomotor activity, providing a distinct behavioural phenotype. Mixture experiments with these pharmaceuticals identified that dose addition was confirmed for all the studied binary mixtures (CBZ-FLX, CBZ-VNX, and VNX-FLX), thereby supporting the zebrafish embryo as a model for studying the cumulative effect of chemical mixtures in DNT. This study shows that pharmaceuticals and a mixture thereof affect locomotor activity in zebrafish. The test is directly applicable in environmental risk assessment; however, further studies are required to assess the relevance of these findings for developmental neurotoxicity in humans.

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Considerations of Environmentally Relevant Test Conditions for Improved Evaluation of Ecological Hazards of Engineered Nanomaterials.

Publications

Considerations of Environmentally Relevant Test Conditions for Improved Evaluation of Ecological Hazards of Engineered Nanomaterials.

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