Comparative Toxicity Assessment of Eco-Friendly Synthesized Superparamagnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles (SPIONs) in Plants and Aquatic Model Organisms

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the toxicity of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) synthesized by biogenic (BS) and chemical (CH) routes. The nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray spectroscopy (XPS), atomic force microscopy (AFM), vibrating-sample magnetometry (VSM-SQUID), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The toxicity of SPIONs was evaluated using Artemia salina as model aquatic organisms and Raphanus sativus and Lactuca sativa as model plants to evaluate their phytotoxicity. The results obtained from XRD, XPS, and AFM confirmed the formation of spherical nanoparticles of 41.9 ± 1.00 nm (BS route) and 19.8 ± 0.47 nm (CH route). VSM-SQUID demonstrated the superparamagnetic behavior of both nanoparticles, and FT-IR provided evidence of the differences in the surface of SPIONs, suggesting the presence of phenolic compounds on the surface of BS-SPIONs. For the assays with Artemia salina, the results demonstrated (i) nonsignificant differences of BS-SPIONs in mortality rates, and (ii) significant toxicity (p < 0.05) was observed for CH-SPIONs at 300 and 400 mg L−1. The Raphanus sativa plant assay tests showed (i) BS-SPIONs and CH-SPIONs improved the root elongation of seedlings. However, BS-SPIONs demonstrated significant activity on root seedling elongation (p < 0.05) in the range of 300 mg L−1 to 600 mg L−1. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report to compare the toxicity of chemically and biogenically synthesized SPIONs. In conclusion, although BS-SPIONs and CH-SPIONs present similar structures, their characteristics of magnetic saturation and surface structure are nonidentical, providing differences in their biological activity.