The elemental changes occurring in the rat liver after exposure to PEG-coated iron oxide nanoparticles: total reflection x-ray fluorescence (TXRF) spectroscopy study

Abstract

The main goal of this study was to evaluate in vivo effects of low dose of PEG-coated magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) on the rat liver. The IONPs was intravenously injected into rats at a dose equaled to 0.03 mg of Fe per 1 kg of an animal body weight. The elemental composition of liver tissue in rats subjected to IONPs action and controls were compared. Moreover, in order to determine the dynamics of nanoparticles (NPs) induced elemental changes, the tissues taken from animals 2 hours, 24 hours, and 7 days from IONPs injection were examined. The analysis of subtle elemental anomalies occurring as a result of IONPs action required application of highly sensitive analytical method. The total reflection X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy perfectly meets such requirements and therefore it was used in this study. The obtained results showed increasing trend of Fe level within liver occurring 2 hours from IONPs injection. One day after NPs administration, the liver Fe content presented the baseline level what suggests only the short-term accumulation of nanoparticles in the organ. The Ca, Cu, and Zn levels changed significantly as a result of NPs action. Moreover, the anomalies in their accumulation were still observed 7 days after IONPs injection. The level of Cu decreased while those of Ca and Zn increased in the liver of NPs-treated animals. The reduced liver Cu, followed by elevated serum level of this element, might be related in triggering the mechanisms responsible for Fe metabolism in the organism.

Iron and Copper Intracellular Chelation as an Anticancer Drug Strategy

“…The most common techniques used today for the quantification of Cu and Fe from biological samples in vitro and ex vivo include inductive coupling plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) [209][210][211][212], atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) [212,213], total reflection X-ray fluorescence (TXRF) [214,215], and colorimetric assays by UV-Vis measurements [216,217]. ICP-MS is a highly sensitive tool that allows the precise quantification of metal content down to sub parts per billion (ppb) levels using internal standards [218,219].…”

Total reflection X-ray fluorescence spectrometry for trace determination of iron and some additional elements in biological samples

“…Wrobel et al [24] combine TXRF with μXRF for quantitative Fe, Cu, and Zn imaging in rat kidney, spleen, and liver tissues. Matusiak et al [23] apply TXRF for Ca, Fe, Cu, and Zn quantification in rat liver tissues. However, for the latter, no validation experiments are given.…”

“…Furthermore, TXRF is costeffective and does not require any gas or cooling media. Examples for valid trace determination by TXRF cover a broad variety of different biological samples, from isolated proteins and nuclei acids to fluids, cells, bacteria, hair, and tissues such as the liver, placenta, chest, kidney, lung, prostate, or colon [2,13,[20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33]. Besides the above-mentioned advantages, highly convenient and reliable multi-element quantification can be performed by adding an internal standard for a one-point calibration [20,21,27,30,31].…”

Organ Metallome Processed with Chemometric Methods Enable the Determination of Elements that May Serve as Markers of Exposure to Iron Oxide Nanoparticles in Male Rats

“…As an internal standard, gallium solution in concentration of 10 ppm was used at 0.3 ml per 1 ml of digested tissue sample. A detailed protocol of the whole procedure can be found elsewhere [20,22].…”

“…The evidence gained through such a study points out that IONPs may accumulate within organs such as liver, brain, heart, or kidneys, leading to transient histopathological and functional changes [11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. One of the possible ways to obtain information about the biodistribution and biokinetics of IONPs as well as the range of their effects is exploration of elemental changes occurring in organs of NPs-treated animals [9,[18][19][20][21][22]. In combination with multivariate statistical analyses, this approach may allow to determine elemental markers of biological effects following exposure to nanoparticles.…”