Metabolic profiling reveals disorder of carbohydrate metabolism in mouse fibroblast cells induced by titanium dioxide nanoparticles

Abstract

As titanium dioxide (TiO(2)) nanoparticles are widely used commercially, their potential biosafety and metabolic mechanism needs to be fully explained. In this study, the cytotoxicity of homogeneous and weakly aggregated (< 100 nm) TiO(2) nanoparticles was investigated by analyzing the changes in metabolite profiles both in mouse fibroblast (L929) cells and their corresponding culture media using gas chromatograph with a time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC/TOFMS)-based metabolomic strategy. With multivariate statistics analysis, satisfactory separations were observed in principal component analysis (PCA) and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) models. Based on the variable importance in the OPLS-DA models, a series of differential metabolites were identified by comparison between TiO(2) nanoparticle-treated L929 cells or their corresponding culture media and the control groups. It was found that the major biochemical metabolism (carbohydrate metabolism) was suppressed in TiO(2) nanoparticle-treated L929 cells and their corresponding culture media. These results might account for the serious damage to energy metabolism in mitochondria and the increased cellular oxidation stress in TiO(2) nanoparticle-induced L929 cells. These results also suggest that the metabolomic strategy had a great potential in evaluating the cytotoxicity of TiO(2) nanoparticles and thus was very helpful in understanding its underlying molecular mechanisms.

Differential effects of graphene materials on the metabolism and function of human skin cells

“…Metabolomics can generate much information about the relationship between nanomaterials and human cells. 27,37,38 Fig. S1 † shows the typical 1 H NMR spectrum of an aqueous extract from untreated HaCaT cells, our control experiment.…”

Investigating the Origins of Toxic Response in TiO2 Nanoparticle-Treated Cells

“…In the cases where TiO 2 NPs were reported to be toxic, they exerted their toxicity in reactive oxygen species (ROS)-dependent pathways such as glutathione (GSH) reduction, increased cell adhesion, changes in carbohydrate metabolism, apoptosis induction and inflammation [11,12,13,14]. In some reports, an induction of autophagy was reported [15].…”

Polymer Composites Containing Functionalized Nanoparticles and the Environment

“…In this part, the show both beneficial and toxic effects on nature depending on their intrinsic properties and also the environmental factors [103]. TiO 2 have been accepted as safe materials and their cytotoxicity is often neglected whereas there are reports on their toxicity through generation of reactive oxygen species, increased cell adhesion, and alteration on carbohydrate metabolism [104][105][106]. Furthermore, TiO 2 nanoparticles have genotoxicity properties and they can interact with DNA of cells [107].…”