The roles of surface chemistry, dissolution rate, and delivered dose in the cytotoxicity of copper nanoparticles

Abstract

Understanding of nanoparticle (NP) cytotoxicity is challenging because of incomplete information about physicochemical changes particles undergo once they come into contact with biological fluids. It is therefore essential to characterize changes in NP properties to better understand their biological fate and effects in mammalian cells. In this paper, we present a study on particle surface oxidation and dissolution rate of Cu NPs. Particle dissolution, cell-associated Cu doses, and oxidative stress responses in A549 luciferase reporter cells were examined for Cu NPs modified with mercaptocarboxylic acids with different carbon chain lengths and thiotic acid appended-PEG ligand (TA). We found that these Cu NPs released ionic species together with small particles upon oxidation and that surface chemistry influenced the morphology and dissolution rate. Dissolution rate was also shown to impact both the cellular Cu dosimetry and associated oxidative stress responses. The convergent results from dissolution and dosimetry measurements demonstrate that both intracellular and extracellular (i.e., NP uptake-independent) release of ionic species from Cu NPs greatly affect the cytotoxicity.

Mechanistic insight into reactivity and (geno)toxicity of well-characterized nanoparticles of cobalt metal and oxides

“…For NPs that do not dissolve to any large extent, the delivered dose is determined by the balance of sedimentation and diffusional transport, which may be estimated by using mathematical models (Cohen et al 2014). NPs that dissolve over the experimental time scale are more complicated to model since their dissolution rates and speciation of released ionic species impact the delivered dose and toxicity (Shi et al 2017). When comparing cellular uptake of Co NPs and Co ions, Sabbioni et al clearly showed higher uptake of the NPs (Sabbioni et al 2014).…”

Role of different types of nanomaterials against diagnosis, prevention and therapy of COVID-19

“…Cu and CuO nanoparticles have the potential to release metal ions ( Al-Gaashani, Radiman, Tabet, & Daud, 2011 ; Shi et al, 2017 ). The kinetic of Cu ion release was fasten due to the high aspect ratio with higher reactivity.…”

Nonspherical Metal‐Based Nanoarchitectures: Synthesis and Impact of Size, Shape, and Composition on Their Biological Activity

“…Current studies believe that both metal ion dissolution and the nanoparticles themselves are involved in cytotoxicity. [ 332,333 ] Differences in the size, morphology, surface charge, and physical characteristics of the nanoparticles as well as their dosage will also affect the experimental results. Another important issue is that in vitro cytotoxicity results are affected by the different cells or organs used as toxicological research models, the tolerance of the organisms, the exposure methods as well as the varying ability for the cells to uptake and process nanoparticles.…”