Effects of CuO nanoparticles on Lemna minor

Background Copper dioxide nanoparticles (NPs), which is a kind of important and widely used metal oxide NP, eventually reaches a water body through wastewater and urban runoff. Ecotoxicological studies of this kind of NPs effects on hydrophyte are very limited at present. Lemna minor was exposed to media with different concentrations of CuO NPs, bulk CuO, and two times concentration of Cu2+ released from CuO NPs in culture media. The changes in plant growth, chlorophyll content, antioxidant defense enzyme activities [i.e., peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities], and malondialdehyde (MDA) content were measured in the present study. The particle size of CuO NPs and the zeta potential of CuO NPs and bulk CuO in the culture media were also analyzed to complementally evaluate their toxicity on duckweed.