An integrated approach to determine interactive genotoxic and global gene expression effects of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) on marine mussels: evidence of reverse ‘Trojan Horse’ effects
Creators: name: Barranger, Audrey
name: Rance, Graham A.
name: Aminot, Yann
name: Dallas, Lorna J.
name: Sforzini, Susanna
name: Weston, Nicola J.
name: Lodge, Rhys W.
name: Banni, Mohamed
name: Arlt, Volker M.
name: Moore, Michael N.
name: Readman, James W.
name: Viarengo, Aldo
name: Khlobystov, Andrei N.
name: Awadhesh N. Jha
Publisher: name: Taylor & Francis
Year: 2019
Subjects: subject: Biochemistry
subject: Space Science
subject: Medicine
subject: Microbiology
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: Genetics
subject: Physiology
subject: Pharmacology
subject: Biotechnology
subject: 59999 Environmental Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: FOS: Earth and related environmental sciences
subject: FOS: Earth and related environmental sciences
subject: 39999 Chemical Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: FOS: Chemical sciences
subject: FOS: Chemical sciences
subject: Ecology
subject: Immunology
subject: FOS: Clinical medicine
subject: FOS: Clinical medicine
subject: 69999 Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: Marine Biology
subject: Inorganic Chemistry
subject: 111714 Mental Health
subject: FOS: Health sciences
subject: FOS: Health sciences
subject: 110309 Infectious Diseases

description: The interactions between carbon-based engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) and organic pollutants might enhance the uptake of contaminants into biota. The present integrated study aimed to assess this potential ‘Trojan Horse’, probing the interactive effects of purpose-made multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), a representative ENP, and benzo[<i>a</i>]pyrene (BaP), a ubiquitous polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) pollutant, on the marine mussel <i>Mytilus galloprovincialis.</i> Mussels were exposed to MWCNTs and BaP either alone or in various combinations. The co-exposure of BaP with MWCNTs revealed that the presence of MWCNTs enhanced the aqueous concentrations of BaP, thereby reducing the uptake of this pollutant by mussels as evidenced by lowering BaP concentrations in the tissues. Determination of DNA damage (comet assay) showed a concentration-dependent response for BaP alone which was absent when MWCNTs were present. Global gene expression using microarray analyses indicated that BaP and MWCNTs, in combination, differentially activated those genes which are involved in DNA metabolism compared to the exposures of BaP or MWCNTs alone, and the gene expression response was tissue-specific. Mechanisms to explain these results are discussed and relate primarily to the adsorption of BaP on MWCNTs, mediated potentially by van der Waals interactions. The use of a novel approach based on gold-labeled MWCNTs to track their uptake in tissues improved the traceability of nanotubes in biological samples. Overall, our results did not indicate the ‘Trojan Horse’ effects following co-exposure to the contaminants and clearly showed that the adsorption of BaP to MWCNTs modified the uptake of the pollutant in marine mussels.