Effects of SiO2, ZrO2, and BaSO4 nanomaterials with or without surface functionalization upon 28-day oral exposure to rats

Abstract

The effects of seven nanomaterials (four amorphous silicon dioxides with or without surface functionalization, two surface-functionalized zirconium dioxides, and barium sulfate) upon 28-day oral exposure to male or female rats were investigated. The studies were performed as limit tests in accordance with OECD Test Guideline 407 applying 1,000 mg test substance/kg body weight/day. Additionally, the acute phase proteins haptoglobin and α2-macroglobulin as well as cardiac troponin I were determined, and metabolome analysis was performed in plasma samples. There were no test substance-related adverse effects for any of the seven nanomaterials. Moreover, metabolomics changes were below the threshold of effects. Since test substance organ burden was not analyzed, it was not possible to establish whether the lack of findings related to the absence of systemic exposure of the tested nanomaterials or if the substances are devoid of any potential for toxicity. The few published subacute oral or short-term inhalation studies investigating comparable nanomaterials (SiO2, ZrO2, and BaSO4) also do not report the occurrence of pronounced treatment-related findings. Overall, the results of the present survey provide a first indication that the tested nanomaterials neither cause local nor systemic effects upon subacute oral administration under the selected experimental conditions. Further investigations should aim at elucidating the extent of gastrointestinal absorption of surface-functionalized nanomaterials. Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00204-014-1337-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Decision tree models to classify nanomaterials according to theDF4nanoGroupingscheme

“…Subsets of these nanomaterials have been used in toxicological studies, both in vitro and in vivo (short-term inhalation studies) of which the data have been published before (Landsiedel et al 2010(Landsiedel et al , 2014a(Landsiedel et al , 2014bKlein et al 2012;Buesen et al 2014;Hofmann et al 2016;Wiemann et al 2016) (using the same nanomaterials, additional measurements were performed as described below). In total we have obtained a comprehensive data set to develop and evaluate a novel modeling approach.…”

“…The nanomaterials from the nanoGEM project were studied in short-term inhalation studies (Buesen et al 2014;Landsiedel et al 2014a;Hofmann et al 2016). Briefly, Wistar rats were head-nose exposed to respirable dust (3 or 10 mg/m 3 ) for 6 h/d at five subsequent days.…”

Nanomaterials in the Environment: Perspectives on in Vivo Terrestrial Toxicity Testing

“…None of the tested nanomaterials cause local or systemic effects (Buesen et al, 2014). Similarly, studies performed by Matsumoto and co-workers did not reveal toxic effects after acute and repeated oral doses of single-or multi-wall carbon nanotubes (Matsumoto et al, 2012).…”

Nanotoxicology of Metal Oxide Nanoparticles

“…Cell death induced by CuO nanoparticles was assigned to the autophagic pathway (cellular auto-digestion), mitochondria damage and oxidative stress [82]. The in vivo toxicity of ZrO2 and SiO2 nanoparticles was monitored upon oral administration to rats for 28 days in a dose of 1000 mg of the nanoparticles/kg body weight/day [127]. ZrO2 and SiO2 nanoparticles did not cause significant systemic or local effects.…”