Effects of PVP/PEI coated Ag nanoparticles on dietarily exposed mussels Mytilus galloprovincialis at different seasons: a transcriptomic study.

The present study tried to assess transcription level effects in the digestive gland of female mussels dietarily exposed to Ag NPs and to compare such transcription profiles in two different seasons, autumn and spring, since mussels are expected to be at a different gamete developmental stage (early and advanced gametogenic stage, respectively). Mussels Mytilus galloprovincialis were fed daily for 21 days with Isochrysis galbana microalgae previously exposed for 24 hours to a dose close to environmentally relevant concentrations of 1 µg Ag/L PVP/PEI coated 5 nm Ag NPs (in spring) and to a higher dose of 10 µg Ag/L of the same Ag NPs both in autumn and in spring. Then, after 1 and 21 days, RNA of mussels was hybridized in an 8x60K custom microarray containing 7806 identified genes.