Figure 2. A scheme representing the potential toxicological effects of nanoparticles (NPs) after environmental transformation.

Environmentally transformed NPs may induce ecotoxicity in terms of cellular, molecular, developmental, or heredity toxicity in airborne, soil, and aquatic organisms. The deleterious molecular effects mediated by the transformed NPs, including membrane shrinkage, mitochondria dysfunction, lysosomal interference, and DNA damage, may differ from those mediated by pristine particles. MNPs, Magnetic nanoparticles; ROS, reactive oxygen species.