As the technological benefits of nanotechnology begin to rapidly move from laboratory to large-scale industrial application, release of nanomaterials to the environment including water, soil, sediment, and biosolids is inevitable. Concerns have been raised that the special properties of nanostructured materials that make them so attractive could potentially lead to unforeseen health risk or environmental hazards. The progress on the sources of nanoparticles, physicochemical properties and environmental or health risk is critically reviewed in this work. The environmental behavior of nanoparticles is analyzed when they are released into the aqueous environment. Toxicological effects of typical nanoparticles on bacteria, aquatic organisms, soil animals and mammalian cells are summarized. The possible toxicological mechanisms on these model microbes are then discussed. Furthermore, the relationships between toxicological effects of nanoparticles on model microbe and self-physicochemical/ environmental factors are critically analyzed. The challenges and existing problems of nanotoxicity research are listed. Moreover, we also highlight the future research fields （such as quantitative structure activity relationship, QSAR） need regarding nanoparticles in the environment. It has been point out that more studies are urgently needed to scrutinize the characteristic methods of nanoscale materials and long-term research on the behavior and toxicity of nanoparticles in microbial community.%随着纳米技术和纳米材料在工业和生活中的大规模应用，大量的人工纳米颗粒物将不可避免地释放到环境介质（如水体、土壤、沉积物等）中。纳米颗粒物所具有的独特性质已引发人们对它们可能造成的健康风险和环境危害的关注和讨论。本文对目前环境中存在的几种主要典型人工纳米颗粒物的性质、来源、纳米毒性及影响纳米毒性的因素进行详细介绍，阐述了纳米颗粒物对生物的可能致毒机理。在分析纳米颗粒物毒性影响因素过程中，提出了纳米材料在环境中相关毒性研究展望。最后文中总结目前纳米材料在环境中的行为和毒性研究中所存在和面临的问题，并在此基础上
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