Assessing the importance of dietborne cadmium and particle characteristics on bioavailability and bioaccumulation in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans.

To investigate the impact of multiple cadmium exposure pathways on bioavailability and bioaccumulation, Caenorhabditis elegans were exposed to either dissolved cadmium or to both particulate (dietborne) and dissolved cadmium. The dietborne metal exposure scenarios included evaluations of two bacteria species (Escherichia coli and Arthrobacter globiformis), varying bacteria concentrations, artificial particles (with different surface functional groups or coated with lipopolysaccharides), as well as a mixture of both bacteria and artificial particles. Total cadmium concentration in the nematodes was used as a proxy for total metal accumulation.