Toxicity of gamma aluminium oxide nanoparticles in the Mediterranean mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis): histopathological alterations and antioxidant responses in the gill and digestive gland

Purpose Accumulation of Gamma aluminium oxide nanoparticles gamma-Al2O3 NPs significant impact on aquatic ecosystems. However, the toxicity of gamma-Al2O3 NPs in aquatic organisms has been limited investigated. This study investigated histopathological changes and antioxidant responses induced by different concentrations of gamma-Al2O3 NPs in Mytilus galloprovincialis. Material and methods In this study, mussels were exposed to different concentrations of 5 nm gamma-Al2O3 NPs (0, 5, 20 and 40 mg/L) for 96 h under controlled laboratory conditions. Gill and digestive gland from mussels were assessed to histopathological (light microscopy, histopathological condition indices, digestive gland tubule types), SOD, CAT, GPx activities. Results Histopathological indices calculated higher, and significantly different in all exposure groups compared to the control group in gill and digestive gland (p < 0.05). Atrophic phase tubules proportion very high in 20 and 40 mg/L gamma-Al2O3 NPs exposure groups. No significant changes in CAT activities in the gill and digestive gland (p > 0.05). Superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities significantly different (p <= 0.05) in the digestive gland from 20 mg/L gamma-Al2O3 NPs exposures, and GPx activities significantly different (p < 0.05) in gill from 40 mg/L gamma-Al2O3 NPs exposures. Conclusion These results indicate that contamination of gamma-Al2O3 NPs negatively affects the aquatic organism.

Automated summary

The study found that contamination of gamma-Al2O3 NPs negatively affects the aquatic organism. Histopathological indices were significantly higher in all exposure groups compared to the control group in gill and digestive gland. The proportion of atrophic phase tubules was very high in the 20 and 40 mg/L gamma-Al2O3 NPs exposure groups.