The comprehensive effects of aluminum oxide nanoparticles on the physiology of freshwater microalga Scenedesmus obliquus and it's phycoremediation performance for the removal of sulfacetamide.

Nanoparticles are inevitable byproducts of modern industry. However, the environmental impacts arising from industrial applications of nanoparticles are largely under-reported. This study evaluated the ecotoxicological effects of aluminum oxide nanoparticles (AlONP) and its influence on sulfacetamide (SA) biodegradation by a freshwater microalga, Scenedesmus obliquus. Although AlONP showed limited toxicity effect on S. obliquus, we observed the toxicity attenuation aspect of AlONP in a mixture of sulfacetamide on microalgae. The addition of 100 mg L of AlONP and 1 mg L of SA reduced total chlorophyll by 23.3% and carotenoids by 21.6% in microalgal compared to control. The gene expression study demonstrated that ATPF0C, Lhcb1, HydA, and psbA genes responsible for ATP synthesis and the photosynthetic system were significantly downregulated, while the Tas gene, which plays a major role in biodegradation of organic xenobiotic chemicals, was significantly upregulated at 1 and 100 mg L of AlONP. The S. obliquus removed 16.8% of SA at 15 mg L in 14 days. However, the removal was slightly enhanced (18.8%) at same concentration of SA in the presence of 50 mg L AlONP. This result proves the stability of sulfacetamide biodegradation capacity of S. obliquus in the presence of AlONP co-contamination. The metabolic analysis showed that SA was degraded into simpler byproducts such as sulfacarbamide, sulfaguanidine, sulfanilamide, 4-(methyl sulfonyl)aniline, and N-hydroxy-benzenamine which have lower ecotoxicity than SA, demonstrating that the ecotoxicity of sulfacetamide has significantly decreased after the microalgal degradation, suggesting the environmental feasibility of microalgae-mediated wastewater technology. This study provides a deeper understanding of the impact of nanoparticles such as AlONP on aquatic ecosystems.