The presence of heavy metals in water is one of the major concerns in the public health area. So, the characterization of inorganic compounds toxicity and their detection, speciation and removal are some of the biggest environmental challenges today. Within this context, the present work evaluated the effect caused by Ni²⁺ in neuronal autofluorescence recorded in brain slices. Besides, a bioinorganic nanostructured hybrid material with great potential for heavy metals removal: yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae modified with Silsesquioxane was applied for Ni² sorption. The neurotoxicity tests revealed that in the presence of Ni²⁺ concentrations of 10, 20 and 30 μM (0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 ppm), irreversible autofluorescence changes occurred. In the sorption tests, the hybrid material revealed a maximum capacity of sorption of 64.6 mg/g. This material was able to reach 77.7% of removal of the initial Ni²⁺ solution using a 100 cm³/g liquid/solid ratio, at pH 6 and 15 min of contact time.

水中重金属的存在是公共卫生领域的主要关注之一。因此，无机化合物毒性的表征及其检测，形成和去除是当今最大的环境挑战。在此背景下，本研究评估了Ni ²⁺对脑切片中记录的神经元自发荧光的影响。此外，具有去除重金属的潜力的生物无机纳米结构杂化材料：采用倍半硅氧烷修饰的酿酒酵母（Saccharomyces cerevisiae）被Ni ²吸附。神经毒性测试表明存在Ni ²⁺当浓度为10、20和30μM（0.5、1.0和1.5 ppm）时，发生不可逆的自发荧光变化。在吸附测试中，杂化材料显示最大吸附能力为64.6 mg / g。使用100 cm ³ / g的液/固比，在pH 6和15分钟的接触时间下，该材料能够去除初始Ni ²⁺溶液的77.7％。