Evaluation of cytotoxicity and genotoxicity induced by oleic acid‐coated iron oxide nanoparticles in human astrocytes

Abstract

Iron oxide nanoparticles (ION) are gaining importance as diagnostic and therapeutic tool of central nervous system diseases. Although oleic acid‐coated ION (O‐ION) have been described as stable and biocompatible, their potential neurotoxicity was scarcely evaluated in human nervous cells so far. The primary aim of this work was to assess the molecular and cellular effects of O‐ION on human astrocytes (A172 cells) under different experimental conditions. An extensive set of cyto‐ and genotoxicity tests was carried out, including lactate dehydrogenase release assay, cell cycle alterations, and cell death production, as well as comet assay, γH2AX assay, and micronucleus (MN) test, considering also iron ion release capacity and alterations in DNA repair ability. Results showed a moderate cytotoxicity related to cell cycle arrest and cell death promotion, regardless of serum presence. O‐ION induced genotoxic effects, namely primary DNA damage, as detected by the comet assay and H2AX phosphorylation, but A172 cells were able to repair this particular damage because no chromosome alterations were found (confirmed by MN test results). Accordingly, no effects on the DNA repair ability were observed. The presence of serum proteins did not influence O‐ION toxicity. Iron ions released from the O‐ION surface seemed not to be responsible for the cytotoxic and genotoxic effects observed. Environ. Mol. Mutagen. 2019. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

In vitro determinants of e-cig aerosol condensate bioavailability and toxicity: Influence of cell culture parameters and utility of a normalized dose metric in e-cigarette studies

“…The presence of serum in cell culture medium could be a complicating factor in cytotoxicity and genotoxicity assays because of the potential for interactions between serum proteins and the test substances [39–41]. It remains unclear whether serum proteins could influence the cytotoxic potential of ECAC.…”

Cytotoxic Effects of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles on Human Glial Cells

“…A flow cytometry approach (FACSCalibur, Becton Dickinson, Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA) was employed to assess the potential of the ZnO NP to enter the cells [7], whereas NP effects on viability were evaluated by MTT assay using a SPECTROstar Nano (BMG Labtech, Ortenberg, Germany) microplate reader [8]. For these experiments, cells were incubated at different ZnO NP or ZnSO 4 concentrations, or the control solutions (cell culture medium), for different exposures times.…”

Influence of Surface Charge on Biological Behaviour of Gold Nanoparticles in Human SH-SY5Y Neuronal Cells

“…Phase-contrast photographs of control and AuNP-treated cells were obtained. The NP effects on viability were evaluated by MTT assay [9] using a SPECTROstar Nano (BMG Labtech, Ortenberg, Germany) microplate reader, and analysis of H2AX phosphorylation was carried out by flow cytometry [10] in a FACScalibur cytometer (Becton Dickinson, Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA). For all these experiments, SH-SY5Y cells were incubated with the three different AuNPs at a range of concentrations or the control solutions for 3 or 24 h. Differences among groups were statistically analysed by the Kruskal-Wallis test, and Mann-Whitney U-test for two-by-two comparisons, by employing the SPSS for Windows statistical package (version 20.0, IBM, Armonk, NY, USA).…”