Are Biogenic and Pyrogenic Mesoporous SiO2 Nanoparticles Safe for Normal Cells?

Abstract

Silicon dioxide, in the form of nanoparticles, possesses unique physicochemical properties (size, shape, and a large surface to volume ratio). Therefore, it is one of the most promising materials used in biomedicine. In this paper, we compare the biological effects of both mesoporous silica nanoparticles extracted from Urtica dioica L. and pyrogenic material. Both SEM and TEM investigations confirmed the size range of tested nanoparticles was between 6 and 20 nanometers and their amorphous structure. The cytotoxic activity of the compounds and intracellular ROS were determined in relation to cells HMEC-1 and erythrocytes. The cytotoxic effects of SiO2 NPs were determined after exposure to different concentrations and three periods of incubation. The same effects for endothelial cells were tested under the same range of concentrations but after 2 and 24 h of exposure to erythrocytes. The cell viability was measured using spectrophotometric and fluorimetric assays, and the impact of the nanoparticles on the level of intracellular ROS. The obtained results indicated that bioSiO2 NPs, present higher toxicity than pyrogenic NPs and have a higher influence on ROS production. Mesoporous silica nanoparticles show good hemocompatibility but after a 24 h incubation of erythrocytes with silica, the increase in hemolysis process, the decrease in osmotic resistance of red blood cells, and shape of erythrocytes changed were observed.

Effect of Non-Modified as Well as Surface-Modified SiO2 Nanoparticles on Red Blood Cells, Biological and Model Membranes

“…In this way, one can determine the correlation between the percentage of hemolysis and the NaCl concentration in the solution. The test conducted here proved that, whenever a determined sodium chloride concentration is higher than that of control cells, the osmotic resistance of the red blood cells is lower, and vice versa [23,49].…”

“…The high-intensity band at 1060 cm −1 and the low-intensity band at 960 cm −1 were both due to vibrations of the stretching formations of Si-O and O-Si-O, a phenomenon that is typical for silica [17][18][19][20][21][22]. Two more bands were present in the spectrum of the tested silica at the wavenumbers 798 cm −1 and 452 cm −1 , and they were connected with the stretching vibrations of Si-O-Si groups and the bending vibrations of Si-O groups of siloxane groups, respectively [22][23][24]. Finally, in regard to functionalized silica, an additional band at the wavenumber 2979 cm −1 was observed, which was probably due to the vibrations of C-H stretching groups that were present in the aliphatic chains connected to the surface of the tested silica dioxides [25,26].…”

Biocompatibility Analysis of Bio-Based and Synthetic Silica Nanoparticles during Early Zebrafish Development

“…Although many studies are devoted to deriving SiO 2 from bio-sources, to date, the knowledge on their biocompatibility profile is still underexplored. Solarska-Sciuk and colleagues [52] recently reported that the bio-silica extracted from Urtica dioica is more hazardous than the pyrogenic one in in vitro systems, pointing out the necessity to carefully assess the safety of the naturally derived SiO 2 NPs. Thus, also considering the vast variety of SiO 2 nanoforms available in the future by using the different synthesis techniques and sources, more efforts in the research aimed at characterizing their biological interactions are desirable.…”

Biocatalytic System Made of 3D Chitin, Silica Nanopowder and Horseradish Peroxidase for the Removal of 17α-Ethinylestradiol: Determination of Process Efficiency and Degradation Mechanism

“…At To confirm the effective production of EE2 removal systems made of nanoSiO 2 , a chitinous scaffold and HRP, an ATR-FTIR analysis has been made (Figure 3). The most intensive band with a maximum close to 1066 cm −1 unambiguously corresponds to the Si-O and Si-O-Si bonds characteristic for silica [49][50][51] or Si-O-X, where X represents ethoxy groups bonded to silicon. These signals indicated the presence of stoichiometric silicon dioxide structure [17].…”