Alimohammadi M, Xu Y, Wang DY, Biris AS, Khodakovskaya MV
В журнале Nanotechnology
Год: 2011 Том: 22 Номер: 29 ArticleID: 295101
Plant seedlings were exposed to single-walled carbon nanotube-quantum dot conjugates (SWCNT-QD) mixed in the growth medium in order to understand the interactions between these multicomponent nanosystems and plants. A combination of fluorescent and Raman-scattering 2D mapping analysis was used to clearly monitor the presence of the SWCNT-QD conjugates in various parts of the tomato seedlings. We found that the addition of QDs to SWCNTs dramatically changed the biological viability of the tomato plants by significantly accelerating leaf senescence and inhibiting root formation. Although the exposure of SWCNTs only to the plants induced positive effects, the chlorophyll content decreased by 1.5-fold in leaves, and the total weight of the root system decreased four times for the tomato plants exposed to SWCNT-QDs (50 νgml-1) compared to plants grown on regular medium as controls. Our results clearly indicate that the exposure of plants to multicomponent nanomaterials is highly influenced by the presence and bioactivity of each component, individually. Such studies could be the foundation for understanding how complex nanosized systems affect the activity of various biological systems with a major impact on ecotoxicology. © 2011 IOP Publishing Ltd.
