Stable isotope tracing of nanomaterials in plants

随着纳米技术的快速发展，迫切需要对工程纳米材料(ENM)在植物中的环境相关暴露进行研究，以便进行全面的风险评估。然而，由于分析的限制，目前对植物中ENMS的研究集中在环境不现实的浓度(通常是预测的环境浓度的100倍、1000倍或有时10,000倍)的影响上。NMS的稳定同位素示踪将允许克服这些限制，并使环境相关浓度的利用成为可能。这也将有助于区分植物中存在的元素背景和引入的标记的NMS。为此，本研究项目旨在(i.)研究ENMS在植物中的行为和命运；(Ii)提供关于NMS吸收的量化数据；(三)通过使用标记的ENMS(包括NMS，如Ag NMS和ZN NMS)，评估它们在不同生长阶段环境相关浓度下的生物利用度和潜在的植物毒性效应。暴露实验完成后，样本将在伦敦帝国理工学院的净化室和质谱分析设施中收集和分析。该项目旨在帮助政策制定者评估环境中环境中环境污染物的危险行为。

With the quick development of nanotechnology, there is an urgency for environmentally relevant exposure studies of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) in plants that can be used for comprehensive risk assessment. Current studies on ENMs in plants, however, concentrate on effects at environmentally unrealistic concentrations (usually 100, 1,000 or sometimes 10,000 times higher than the predicted environmental concentrations) due to analytical limitations. Stable isotope tracing of NMs will allow to overcome these limitations and make the utilisation of environmentally relevant concentrations possible. It will also help distinguish the elemental background present in plants from the introduced labelled NMs. For this reason, this research project aims to (i.) study the behaviour and fate of ENMs in plants; (ii.) provide quantitative data on the uptake of NMs; (iii.) evaluate their bioavailability and potential phytotoxic effects at different plant growth stages at environmentally relevant concentrations by using labelled ENMs (including NMs such as Ag NMs and Zn NMs). After the completion of an exposure experiment, samples will be collected and analysed in the clean room and mass spectrometry facilities at Imperial College London. The project will aim to help policy makers assess the hazardous behaviour of ENMs in the environment.