Toxicity evaluation of magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles reveals neuronal loss in chicken embryo

Abstract

Magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (IONs) display the ability to cross blood - brain barrier and are envisioned as diagnostic and therapeutic applications, but there are few studies on their potential embryonic toxicity in higher vertebrates. This study investigates interaction of IONs with egg albumen and its subsequent toxicity on chicken embryo. Physicochemical interactions of IONs with egg albumen revealed alterations in friccohesity and secondary structural changes due to weak Vander Waals forces. Toxicity assessment of IONs (10, 25, 50, 100, and 200 µg/ml doses) on chicken embryo accounted for 100% mortality at 200 µg/ml dose due to Fe ions overload. However, lower doses (50 and 100 µg/ml) recorded decrement in whole weights and crown-rump lengths of chicken embryo possibly due to ION-albumen interactions. Histology of brain tissue revealed degeneration of neurons (50-60%) at 10-100 µg/ml dose range of IONs. Toxicity studies of IONs with diverse animal models are needed to set a toxicity benchmark for preventing embryonic toxicity prior to its use in biomedical applications. This is the first study on toxicity assessment of IONs in chicken embryo.

Humic acid-stabilized superparamagnetic maghemite nanoparticles: surface charge and embryotoxicity evaluation

“…It seems that a high amount of the carboxylate-rich humic polyanions adsorbed on the surface of the SPIONs (and entrapping them as discussed above) leads to neutralization (Fe-OH + 2 + Hum-COO − ↔ Fe-OOC-Hum + H 2 O) and then compensation of positive charges on the iron oxide surface even in acidic medium. A similar effect of humic and fulvic acids on the iron oxide surface charge was previously reported for the magnetite [9] and hematite [23][24][25] The influence of nanoparticles on the development of embryos seems to be quite important to avoid embryotoxic effects of new medical agents [26][27][28]. Our analysis has evidently demonstrated ( Fig.…”

Iron Oxide Nanoparticles for Biomedical Applications: A Perspective on Synthesis, Drugs, Antimicrobial Activity, and Toxicity

“…Positively charged IONPs were shown to be more toxic, since they undergo nonspecific interactions and adsorptive endocytosis with the negatively charged cell membrane, thus increasing their intracellular accumulation and affecting cell membrane integrity [ 218 ]. Other factors such as concentration, type of coating, form of administration, as well as the cell line may explain the different results for IONPs toxicity [ 21 , 22 , 23 , 25 , 26 , 66 , 71 , 72 , 96 , 97 , 98 , 163 , 214 , 215 , 219 , 220 , 221 , 222 , 223 , 224 , 225 , 226 , 227 , 228 , 229 , 230 , 231 , 232 , 233 , 234 , 235 , 236 , 237 , 238 , 239 , 240 , 241 , 242 , 243 , 244 , 245 , 246 , 247 , 248 ], as shown in Table 1 .…”

“…Despite oxidative stress is the most well-studied hypothesis of toxicity and cell damage, iron overload caused by exposure to IONPs can also generate serious deleterious effects and lead to cell death [ 246 , 250 , 251 ]. On the other hand, magnetite was shown to be responsible for increasing the level of lipid peroxidation and decreasing antioxidant enzymes of human lung alveolar epithelial cells (A-549), displaying a concentration-dependent toxicity in vitro [ 252 ].…”

Cytotoxicity studies of Fe3O4nanoparticles in chicken macrophage cells

“…Many reports indicate that iron oxide nanoparticles are biologically safe because of their biocompatibility and high tolerance by cells [3,23,24]. However, other reports indicated that these nanoparticles had the potential to produce toxic effects in cells, and their toxic effects were related to their size, concentration, time, shape and the cell type [13,15,25,26]. The results from the present study suggest that the extent of Fe 3 O 4 -NPs toxic effects in HD11 cells is affected by the size of the Fe 3 O 4 -NPs.…”