Caenorhabditis elegans as a Prediction Platform for Nanotechnology-Based Strategies: Insights on Analytical Challenges

Abstract

Nanotechnology-based strategies have played a pivotal role in innovative products in different technological fields, including medicine, agriculture, and engineering. The redesign of the nanometric scale has improved drug targeting and delivery, diagnosis, water treatment, and analytical methods. Although efficiency brings benefits, toxicity in organisms and the environment is a concern, particularly in light of global climate change and plastic disposal in the environment. Therefore, to measure such effects, alternative models enable the assessment of impacts on both functional properties and toxicity. Caenorhabditis elegans is a nematode model that poses valuable advantages such as transparency, sensibility in responding to exogenous compounds, fast response to perturbations besides the possibility to replicate human disease through transgenics. Herein, we discuss the applications of C. elegans to nanomaterial safety and efficacy evaluations from one health perspective. We also highlight the directions for developing appropriate techniques to safely adopt magnetic and organic nanoparticles, and carbon nanosystems. A description was given of the specifics of targeting and treatment, especially for health purposes. Finally, we discuss C. elegans potential for studying the impacts caused by nanopesticides and nanoplastics as emerging contaminants, pointing out gaps in environmental studies related to toxicity, analytical methods, and future directions.

Keywords: biomedical applications; environmental toxicology; nanomaterials; nanosystems; nanotoxicity; toxicology.

Figure 1

3D image comparison between the size of C. elegans mouth in different larval stages, E. coli bacteria, and nanoplastic (NP). (a) Scale comparing the sizes of micro- and nanoplastics, E. coli bacteria, and C. elegans (L1: 1 μm; L2: 1.5 μm; L3: 2 μm; L4: 4 μm). (b) 3D representation of the organisms and nanoplastics. This illustration was created in Blender (Community, B. O. (2018). Blender—a 3D modeling and rendering package. Stichting Blender Foundation, Amsterdam. Retrieved from http://www.blender.org (accessed on 20 February 2023)).