Enzyme digestion combined with SP-ICP-MS analysis to characterize the bioaccumulation of gold nanoparticles by mustard and lettuce plants.

Abstract Plants can absorb and accumulate engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) through water and soil, providing a potential way for nanoparticles to be enriched in humans through the food chain. In this paper, a combination of enzymatic digestion method and SP-ICP-MS analysis was used to quantitatively characterize the enriched AuNPs in mustard and lettuce plants. The results showed that Macerozyme R-10 enzyme can extract AuNP from plants without obvious aggregation/dissolution. Both mustard and lettuce plants can absorb and enrich the complete AuNPs to the above-ground organs, and the particle number concentrations detected are 1.24×107 particles L-1 and 4.39×107 particles L-1, respectively. With different exposure level of AuNPs(0.5 mg L-1,), a particle number concentration of 2.32×107 particles L-1 was detected in the stems of lettuce plants, while the mustard failed to transport AuNPs to the above-ground organs. The transport efficiency of Au ions by plants is higher than that of AuNPs, and the plants have stronger bioavailability for ions.