Fig. 2: Concentrations of gold nanomaterials (Au-NMs) and released Au+ from the Au-NM.
From: Particle number-based trophic transfer of gold nanomaterials in an aquatic food chain
a Percentage of the intact particles (green) and Au ions (yellow) released from the Au-NMs in daphnids (n = 5). The percentage was calculated by normalizing the mass of the particles or the mass of Au ions in daphnids to the total mass of Au in the daphnids. The graph shows that a higher percentage of dissolution in the daphnids occurred for the rod-shaped 50 × 100 nm followed by spherical 100 nm Au-NMs. S: spherical, R-s: rod-shaped. b Illustration of the incubation of Au-NMs in fish plasma extracted from adult carp. The Au-NMs were sonicated for 5 min and incubated in 10 times diluted fish plasma for 72 h. After incubation, the sample was digested with 5% Tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) and the concentration of the released ions was measured using single-particle inductively coupled mass spectrometry (spICP-MS). c Concentration of Au ions released from 10 mg mL−1 Au-NM of different sizes and shapes after incubation in fish plasma for 72 h. One-way ANOVA with Duncan’s post hoc test were used to analyse the data (***P < 0.0001; *P < 0.05). Error bars = SD (n = 15), independent samples.
