The effects of humic acid on the uptake and depuration of fullerene aqueous suspensions in two aquatic organisms.

The authors investigated the uptake and depuration of fullerene aqueous suspensions (nC(60)) in 2 aquatic organisms: Daphnia magna and zebrafish. The effects of humic acid were examined to elucidate its possible mechanisms in the aquatic environment. The uptake was concentration-dependent in both organisms, and the maximum uptake concentration of nC(60) in Daphnia (2268 ± 158 mg/kg) was approximately 1 order of magnitude higher than that in zebrafish (222 ± 30 mg/kg) because of the larger gut volume ratio to the mass of Daphnia or its high uptake efficiency. Humic acid reduced the uptake of nC(60) in Daphnia and zebrafish as a result of the size effect and the polarity alternation of nC(60). The depuration patterns were rapid for Daphnia and slow for zebrafish, and the differences were most likely the result of different water exchange frequencies between organisms. The remaining nC(60) percentages were approximately 20% for Daphnia and 30% for zebrafish after 48-h depuration, suggesting that a large nC(60) burden still existed for both aquatic organisms and that there is a need for further studies on the potential for trophic transfer.