In vitro toxicological experiments were performed on an endothelial cell line exposed to different doses of spherical nanoparticles of cadmium and/or of lead sulfides with mean diameter 37 ± 5 nm and 24 ± 4 nm, respectively. Toxic effects were estimated by Luminescent Cell Viability Assay, endothelin-1 concentration and cell size determination. Some dose-response relationships were typically monotonic (well approximated with hyperbolic function) while others were bi- or even 3-phasic and could be described within the expanded hormesis paradigm. The combined toxicity type variated depending on the effect it was assessed by.
Spherical selenium-oxide and copper-oxide nanoparticles (SeO-NP with mean diameter 51 ± 14 nm and CuO-NP with mean diameter 21 ± 4 nm) were found to be cytotoxic for human fibroblast-like cells in vitro, as judged by decreased ATP-dependent luminescence. Compared with SeO-NP, CuO-NP produced a somewhat stronger effect of this kind. Along with cell hypertrophy developing in response to certain doses of SeO-NP and CuO-NP, our experiment also revealed doses causing a decrease in cell and cell-nucleus sizes. We observed both monotonic and different variants of nonmonotonic dose-response relationship. For the latter, we have succeeded in constructing adequate mathematical expressions based on the generalized hormesis paradigm that we had considered previously in respect of CdS-NP and PbS-NP cytotoxicity for cardiomyocites. It was demonstrated as well that combined toxicity of SeO-NP and CuO-NP is of different types depending on the outcome.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.