Identification of hazardous nanoparticles present in the Caribbean Sea for the allocation of future preservation projects
Graphical abstract
Introduction
The presence of potentially dangerous nanoparticles (NPs) in the sea affects the fertilization and development of marine embryos and other existing organisms. These harmful concentrations of dangerous elements negatively enhance biological changes in fauna and flora, directly affecting humans and the ecosystem (Freitas et al., 2018; Gallo et al., 2018; Xia et al., 2018; Silva et al., 2020a; Oliveira et al., 2021). It is estimated that NPs can cause direct toxicity, changes in nutrient bioavailability and secondary risks caused by contact with organic mixtures, provoking alterations in environmental structure (Peralta-Videa et al., 2011; Caspah et al., 2016; Nguyen et al., 2020; Alnadhari et al., 2021). Therefore, the identification and characterization NPs origin are extremely important to avoid these environmental changes, through public policies, with environmental recovery projects.
The NPs can be of organic, inorganic origin or a mixture, from natural sources (for example pollen, sea salt, sand, erosion), secondary causes (oil refinery practices, vehicular traffic, and mining) or from syntheses (carbon nanotubes and metal hydr/oxides) (Civeira et al., 2016; Graca et al., 2018; Oliveira et al., 2019; Silva et al., 2020b). Whether natural or from anthropogenic sources, they appear as spherical, cylindrical or irregularly shaped compounds from connected, accumulated or agglomerated arrangements (Silva et al., 2011a, Silva et al., 2011b). The identification and characterization of these NPs influence their reactivity and the determination of toxicity due to their nanoscale (NIOSH, 2013). Therefore, the geochemical impact as a consequence of the accumulation of NPs is different from the behavior of macromolecules because NPs are, normally, more reactive in the environment (Wigginton et al., 2007; Barreto et al., 2021).
The deposit of NPs in the sea may be due to their presence in atmospheric air or from adsorption/desorption routes of existing organic materials, or even by autogenesis processes (Barreto et al., 2021). The accumulation and permanence of these NPs can induce the formation of potentially hazardous elements (PHEs) (Oliveira et al., 2021). Among these elements are Pb, Cd, TiO2, As, that are highly toxic, carcinogenic compounds, which can cause autophagy and even changes in the nervous system of the human being (Freitas et al., 2018; Hu et al., 2018; Rojas et al., 2019; Silva et al., 2020a).
However, the methods of identifying EPS in seawater are restricted, and some have precariousness in the technique due to the lack of equipment capable of carrying out complex and advanced analyzes for the identification of these levels of contamination (Wigginton et al., 2007; Restrepo et al., 2012; Gallo et al., 2018; Gonçalves and Bebianno, 2021). Thereby, the identification of PHEs in sea samples through X-ray spectroscopy with energy dispersion (EDS) can be enhanced when coupled with advanced microscopy (Arai et al., 2019; Oliveira et al., 2021). This technique has advantages in providing simple sampling and does not compromise the integrity of the sample, justifying the possibility of identifying the dangerous NPs present in the waters of the Caribbean Sea of 8 different islands located in the city of Cartagena in Colombia through advanced microscopy, the which makes it possible to assess these contamination risks present in this marine estuary.
The general objective of this study is to evaluate the use of advanced methods for the determination of toxic NPs, which can directly affect the development of marine organisms in the aquatic ecosystem in waters of the Caribbean Sea, favoring the construction of future international public policies with the elaboration of projects capable of mitigating these levels of contamination.
Section snippets
Sampling and sample preparation
The city of Cartagena, Colombia, experienced an intense urbanization process, totaling a population of approximately 1,043,926 inhabitants in 2021 (Dane, 2021). Eight estuaries were considered for the study, with an abundance of marine fauna and flora in the city of Cartagena. The study area is directly influenced by the high amount of urban, industrial and port expansion, characterized by a dry tropical climate, with an average annual rainfall of 900 mm and a temperature of 29 °C (
Results and discussion
In general, identification of NPs is problematic when is not combined with specific analytical methods that connect light scattering, laser diffraction, NPs tracking analysis, or high-resolution microscopic methods (Ribeiro et al., 2010; León-Mejía et al., 2018; Arai et al., 2019; Oliveira et al., 2021). In the last years, different techniques for the identification of NPs were tested, but most of them presented errors if there was no coupling with other analytical procedures (Petersen et al.,
Conclusion
The advanced microscopy methods suggested for sampling Caribbean seawater allowed the determination of variable NPs and their morphological behavior. The NPs detected in the Caribbean waters varied in size between 2 and 93 nm. Among these NPs, it is worth mentioning the identification of As, Cb, Pb, Hg, Ni, and V, which are indicated as possible hazardous elements. In addition, the presence of particles of silica nanofibers, nanofibers composed of Mn, Ba, K, Cl, and Fe oxides, and spherical
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Luis F.O. Silva: Conceptualization, Data curation, Writing - original draft. Liliana P. Lozano: Formal analysis. Marcos L.S. Oliveira: Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology. Kátia da Boit: Project administration, Resources. Janaína O. Gonçalves: Supervision, Validation. Alcindo Neckel: Writing – review & editing.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors have not conflict of interest.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank CAPES (Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel) and CNPq (National Council for Scientific and Technological Development) for the financial support.
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