Figure 6.

Biocompatibility of nanoparticles in C. elegans. Three trials of brood assays are conducted to determine the chronic cytotoxicity of nanoparticle ingestion at a concentration of ∼0.1 mg/worm. In each trial, 10 control worms (black lines) and 10 worms treated with UCNPs (maroon lines) are monitored day-to-day after overnight incubation in a liquid S-Medium culture. (a) The number of eggs laid each day after treatment is recorded for individual worms (N = 10 per condition per trial), indicated by different shades of color and line curves. (b) The total brood size is plotted in a bar graph for all three trials. The total brood size is the cumulative egg count from Day 1 to Day 5 after treatment. Worms that did not last the full duration of the study were excluded. Markers represent individual worms; the bar heights represent the mean, and error bars represent the standard deviation.