Influence of agglomeration of cerium oxide nanoparticles and speciation of cerium(III) on short term effects to the green algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

Cerium oxide nanoparticles (CeO2 NP) are increasingly used in industrial applications and may be released to the aquatic environment. The fate of CeO2 NP and effects on algae are largely unknown. In this study, the short term effects of CeO2 NP in two different agglomeration states on the green algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii were examined. The role of dissolved cerium(III) on toxicity, its speciation and the dissolution of CeO2 NP were considered. The role of cell wall of C. reinhardtii as a barrier and its influence on the sensitivity to CeO2 NP and cerium(III) was evaluated by testing both, the wild type and the cell wall free mutant of C. reinhardtii. Characterization showed that CeO2 NP had a surface charge of ∼0mV at physiological pH and agglomerated in exposure media. Phosphate stabilized CeO2 NP at pH 7.5 over 24h. This effect was exploited to test CeO2 NP dispersed in phosphate with a mean size of 140nm and agglomerated in absence of phosphate with a mean size of 2000nm. The level of dissolved cerium(III) in CeO2 NP suspensions was very low and between 0.1 and 27nM in all tested media. Exposure of C. reinhardtii to Ce(NO3)3 decreased the photosynthetic yield in a concentration dependent manner with EC50 of 7.5±0.84μM for wild type and EC50 of 6.3±0.53μM for the cell wall free mutant. The intracellular level of reactive oxygen species (ROS) increased upon exposure to Ce(NO3)3 with effective concentrations similar to those inhibiting photosynthesis. The agglomerated CeO2 NP caused a slight decrease of photosynthetic yield at the highest concentrations (100μM), while no effect was observed for dispersed CeO2 NP. The low toxicity of agglomerated CeO2 NP was attributed quantitatively to Ce(3+) ions co-occurring in the nanoparticle suspension whereas for dispersed CeO2 NP, dissolved Ce(3+) was precipitated with phosphate and not bioavailable. Furthermore CeO2 NP did not affect the intracellular ROS level. The cell wall free mutant and wild type of C. reinhardtii showed the same sensitivity to CeO2 NP and Ce(NO3)3, indicating a minor role of the cell wall on toxicity. For both algae strains, a flocculation of cells was observed upon exposure to agglomerated CeO2 NP and Ce(NO3)3, only algae exposed to agglomerated CeO2 NP were tightly packed in exopolymeric substances.