Recent Insights into the Silver Nanomaterials: an Overview of Their Transformation in the Food Webs and Toxicity in the Aquatic Ecosystem

Nanotechnology (NT) in the past and current decade has gained a lot of attention due to its potent antibacterial activities and its unique physicochemical features. NT works based on nanoparticles in which silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are one of the most vital and fascinating nanomaterials. Therefore, AgNPs have been used for a variety of items, with encouraging outcomes. Besides the significant applications, there is a lot of disagreement over how AgNPs interact with the environment and how hazardous they are to aquatic life. Most worldwide freshwater ecosystems are polluted by AgNPs-containing effluents discharged from sewage and wastewater treatment plants and/or runoff streams. In the aquatic food web, fish acquire higher trophic levels; therefore, AgNPs accumulation in the body is inevitable. The bioaccumulation of AgNPs causes numerous toxic effects such as inflammation, oxidative stress, tissue disruption, and intestinal bacterial dysbiosis which could possibly lead to death. Therefore, this study aimed to describe the fate of AgNPs in the food web, their transformation and accumulation, and their possible consequences in fish. The various causes of toxicity within the fish body and the detrimental impacts on the aquatic ecosystem still require more in-depth study.