Gold Nanoparticle Uptake by Tomato Plants Characterized by Single Particle ICP-MS

With the increasing use of engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) in a variety of products and processes, there is concern about the release of ENPs into and impact on the environment. One aspect of the environmental impact of ENPs that must be explored is their uptake by plants, as ENPs can make their way to plants via migration through water and/or soil. Research limitations can be avoided by careful choice of the ENP extraction procedure and performing the analysis with single particle ICP-MS (SP-ICP-MS), the combination of which will preserve the particle size information, allow for rapid analysis of a large number of samples, and yield results on the particle size, concentration, and size distribution. This application note explores such a technique for analysis of gold nanoparticle uptake in tomato plants.