Engineered nanomaterials (ENMs), due to their unique electrical, mechanical and catalytic properties, are presently found in many commercial products and will be intentionally or inadvertently released at increasing concentrations into the natural environment. Terrestrial plants may be exposed to ENMs, thus it is important to understand and characterize the uptake, accumulation and biological effects (potential benefits and/or toxicity) resulting from ENM exposures to sentinel plant species. Typically, ENMs adsorb to the surface of roots or enter the primary/lateral roots and may then be transported from the roots through the stem to the leaves. Various optical (e.g., confocal multiphoton and confocal laser scanning microscopy, synchrotron x-ray fluorescence) and electron (e.g., TEM-EDX, STEM-EDX, SEM-EDX) imaging modalities have been successfully utilized for characterizing ENM uptake into plant roots and translocation into near and distant cellular compartments. In some instances, the uptake of ENMs may lead to adverse effects such as DNA damage in the plant cells, characterized by the accumulation of DNA strand breaks and/or DNA base lesions. Recent advances in imaging the uptake and translocation of ENMs (metal oxide nanoparticles - CeO2, CuO and TiO2 NPs and MWCNTs) in terrestrial plants (e.g., Arabidopsis thaliana, Raphanus sativus, Lolium perenne, Oryza sativa) as well as the quantitative determination (via mass spectrometry and/or comet assay analyses) of the potential genotoxic effects from plant-ENM exposures will be presented.

Advances in the metrology for characterizing the uptake, translocation and genotoxicity of engineered nanomaterials in terrestrial plants

253rd National Meeting (2017)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.