The effect of silica-magnetite nanoparticles on the ecotoxicity of the antibiotic ciprofloxacin

The increase in the production and application of engineered nanomaterials, including nanoparticles (NPs), leads to their discharge into the environment, where they can interact with coexisting antibiotics from wastewater, causing a complicated joint effect on organisms that need to be studied. Herein, a typical engineered nanomaterial, silica-magnetite NPs modified with tetraethoxysilane and 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (MTA-NPs, 1–2 g/L), and common antibiotic ciprofloxacin (CIP, 0–5 mg/L) were selected as the analytes. Their joint toxicity to a model of ciliates infusoria, Paramecium caudatum was specifically investigated. The impact of CIP, MTA-NPs, and humic acids (HA) was tracked for 24 h, individually and collectively, on the mortality of infusoria. The addition of MTA-NPs and HA at the studied concentrations leads to 40% mortality of organisms. The combined presence of the MTA-NPs at a concentration of 1.5–2 mg/L and HA at a concentration of 20–45 mg/L has a multiplier effect and allows to reduce the mortality rate of ciliates > 30% due to the enhanced removal of CIP. That finding demonstrated a clearly detoxifying role of dissolved organic matter (here, humic substances) in case of complex water pollution where pharmaceuticals and nanomaterials are presented.