Determination of lethal concentration (LC50) of chemically and biologically synthesized titanium dioxide nanoparticles in Xiphophorus maculatus

Increasing the use of nanomaterials leads to the release of these particles in aquatic environments that can have effects on aquatic animals, therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the toxicity of titanium dioxide nanoparticles produced by the Chemical and biological method on Xiphophorus maculatus. First, the survival rate of fish under similar conditions to toxicity experiments were investigated  and then Xiphophorus maculatus fish to determine the intermediate lethal concentration (LC50) of nanoparticles in 12 treatments (each with three replications) including 6 treatments containing concentrations of 0, 80, 160, 320, 640 and 1280 mg /L nanoparticles titanium oxide produced chemically and 6 treatments containing concentrations of 0, 240, 480, 960, 1920 and 3840 mg /L titanium dioxide produced biologically method in 60 liter tanks with 15 fish per treatment were exposed for 96 h and fish mortality were recorded at 24, 48, 72 and 96 h. Survival tests showed that up to 96 hours after stocking fish, no mortality were observed and the survival rate was 100%. With increasing the concentration of nanoparticles and increasing the exposure time, the percentage of fish mortality increased. The intermediate lethal concentrations (LC50) of titanium dioxide nanoparticles produced by chemical and biological methods during 96 h of exposure were 255.49 and 720.76 mg/l, respectively. Based on the results of the present study, chemically produced nanoparticles are more toxic than nanoparticles produced biologically method.