Cytotoxicity of Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles in Mouse Fibroblast Cells

Abstract

Nanotitanium dioxide (TiO2) is an important industrial material that is widely used as an additive in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and food colorants. Although the small size of the TiO2 nanoparticle is useful in various applications, the biosafety of this material needs to be evaluated. In this study, mouse fibroblast (L929) cells were used to evaluate the cytotoxicity of different concentrations (3-600 microg/mL) of homogeneous and weakly aggregated TiO2 nanoparticles in aqueous solution. The L929 cells became round and even shrank as the concentration of TiO2 nanoparticles increased. Moreover, TiO2 nanoparticle-treated cells had condensed fragmented chromatin or were directly necrosed, as observed by acridine orange (AO) staining. The transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis showed that in cells cultured in a medium containing 300 microg/mL TiO2, the number of lysosomes increased, and some cytoplasmic organelles were damaged. In addition, there was a significant increase in oxidative stress at higher TiO2 nanoparticle concentrations (>60 microg/mL). As the concentration of TiO2 nanoparticles increased in the culture medium, the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) increased, while those of methyl tetrazolium cytotoxicity (MTT), glutathione (GSH), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) decreased. A possible mechanism for the cytotoxicity of TiO2 nanoparticles is also discussed.

Study of the in vitro cytotoxicity testing of medical devices

“…The direct contact assay is the most sensitive for testing the cytotoxicity of the medical devices; the medical devices can be measured even with weak cytotoxicity (18). The agar overlay assay is suitable for the medical devices that have large toxicity and bulk filtering (19) and the molecular filtration method is suitable for the biocompatibility evaluation of the toxic components of small molecular weight medical devices (20). Gao et al (21) identified a good correlation between the direct and indirect contact test and a lesser association between the extract test and the other two trials.…”

The effect of humic acid on the aggregation of titanium dioxide nanoparticles under different pH and ionic strengths

“…The cytotoxicity of TiO 2 NPs has been discussed (Jin et al, 2008). It has been reported that TiO 2 NPs can cause respiratory toxicity and disturbances in metabolism (Federici et al, 2007).…”

Cytotoxicity of Dental Alginates

“…In the present study, the cytotoxicity of dental alginates was assessed through cytotoxic tests performed with mouse fibroblast L929 cells, a method largely used in several works evaluating the cytotoxicity of materials for use in dentistry (Alcaide et al, 2008;Donadio et al, 2008;Feizzadeh et al, 2008;Jin et al, 2008).…”