Ethylene glycol coated nanoceria protects against oxidative stress in human lens epithelium

Abstract

Nanoceria (<5 nm), stabilised with ethylene glycol, protects human lens epithelium from oxidative stress and exhibits multicoloured photoluminescence.

Treatment of Human Lens Epithelium with High Levels of Nanoceria Leads to Reactive Oxygen Species Mediated Apoptosis

“…The zeta potential was +44 mV in water and −9.7 mV in cell culture media due to protein coronae formation. EGCNPs were monodisperse with unimodal distribution of intensity-weighted mean hydrodynamic diameters as was demonstrated by DLS [20].…”

“…When the concentration of nanoceria was increased to 400 µg mL −1 , a decrease in viability, measured by MTT assay, was observed. However, the cells were still able to proliferate normally for over three days without signs of necrotic damage [20]. This suggest that the nanoparticles at this concentration could interfere with mitochondrial functions and this has warranted further investigation.…”

“…EGCNPs were thoroughly characterized in our previous work using transmission electron microscopy, powder X-ray diffraction, dynamic light scattering, thermogravimetric analysis, gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), UV-Vis spectroscopy [20]. Briefly, EGCNPs were spherical in shape with a core size (TEM) of 4.0 ± 0.8 nm ( Figure 1) and crystallite size (XRD, Scherrer formula) of 3.5 nm.…”

“…Ocular exposure is of particular interest due to the ease for sustained environmental exposure. Although nanoceria have shown promise in treating some ocular diseases such as retinal degeneration [17], corneal inflammation [18], glaucoma [19], and cataracts [20], there is a paucity of knowledge about toxicity mechanism of nanoceria in any ocular tissue. The human lens epithelial cell line (HLEC) provides a suitable model for studying toxicity of nanoceria on the eye lens, as these cells are the lenticular stem cells from which the lens fiber cells differentiate.…”

“…Recently, it has been shown that highly stable and well characterized monodisperse cerium oxide nanoparticles (4 nm) coated with ethylene glycol and its acetate derivatives, ie ethylene glycol coated nanoparticles (EGCNPs) can protect HLECs from oxidative stress when used in concentrations as low as 50 µg mL −1 , and the nanoparticles were non-cytotoxic up to 200 µg mL −1 [20]. When the concentration of nanoceria was increased to 400 µg mL −1 , a decrease in viability, measured by MTT assay, was observed.…”