In Vivo Bioimaging of Mercury Sulfide Nanoparticles Dissolution in the Gut Environment of Zooplankton.

ABSTRACT: The toxicity of mercury sulfide nanoparticles (HgS-NPs) is likely mediated by their in vivo dissolution into bioavailable Hg²⁺. However, tracking this transformation within complex biological systems has been a major analytical challenge, hindering a mechanistic understanding of the HgS-NPs' toxicology. To address this, we developed an aggregation-induced emission (AIE)-based bioimaging technique for the selective and real-time monitoring of Hg²⁺ in Daphnia magna, enabling the direct visualization and quantification of HgS-NP dissolution in a multicellular organism. Our Hg²⁺-specific AIE probe exhibited a detection limit of 0.52 ng/mL and negligible toxicity at working concentrations. Using this method, we directly visualized and quantified the time-

SUBMITTER: Yan N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12810478 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature