Zinc Chloride: Time-Dependent Cytotoxicity, Proliferation and Promotion of Glycoprotein Synthesis and Antioxidant Gene Expression in Human Keratinocytes

Abstract

The use of ionic metals such as zinc (Zn2+) is providing promising results in regenerative medicine. In this study, human keratinocytes (HaCaT cells) were treated with different concentrations of zinc chloride (ZnCl2), ranging from 1 to 800 µg/mL, for 3, 12 and 24 h. The results showed a time–concentration dependence with three non-cytotoxic concentrations (10, 5 and 1 µg/mL) and a median effective concentration value of 13.5 µg/mL at a cell exposure to ZnCl2 of 24 h. However, the zinc treatment with 5 or 1 µg/mL had no effect on cell proliferation in HaCaT cells in relation to the control sample at 72 h. The effects of the Zn2+ treatment on the expression of several genes related to glycoprotein synthesis, oxidative stress, proliferation and differentiation were assessed at the two lowest non-cytotoxic concentrations after 24 h of treatment. Out of 13 analyzed genes (superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1), catalase (CAT), matrix metallopeptidase 1 (MMP1), transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGFB1), glutathione peroxidase 1 (GPX1), fibronectin 1 (FN1), hyaluronan synthase 2 (HAS2), laminin subunit beta 1 (LAMB1), lumican (LUM), cadherin 1 (CDH1), collagen type IV alpha (COL4A1), fibrillin (FBN) and versican (VCAN)), Zn2+ was able to upregulate SOD1, CAT, TGFB1, GPX1, LUM, CDH1, FBN and VCAN, with relative expression levels of at least 1.9-fold with respect to controls. We found that ZnCl2 promoted glycoprotein synthesis and antioxidant gene expression, thus confirming its great potential in biomedicine.

Recent Advances in Metal-Based Antimicrobial Coatings for High-Touch Surfaces

“…Zn is one of the essential biometals, as well as Fe, Cu, Mn, and Co and it is found in all human tissues [66]. It is another metal that has proven potent antimicrobial behaviour against a broad range of micro-organisms, including multidrug-resistant bacteria, and has shown great promise in biomedical applications [67,68]. Zn has demonstrated antiviral properties against a wide range of viral species and although the exact killing mechanisms are unclear, it appears to inhibit viral protease and RNA or DNA polymerase enzymatic processes, as well as physical processes such as viral attachment and uncoating [69].…”

Engineering alginate hydrogel films with poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-valerate) and graphene nanoplatelets: Enhancement of antiviral activity, cell adhesion and electroactive properties

“…After 24 h of cell incubation, the medium present in each well was replaced with 100 μL of the film extracts. 100 μL of the medium used to produce the film extracts was used as positive control, and 100 μL of a toxic zinc chloride solution as negative control [41] . 5 mg/mL of 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) was used to incubate the cells in each well for 4 h and the formazan crystals were dissolved in 100 μL of DMSO at room temperature.…”

Scaffolds in the microbial resistant era: Fabrication, materials, properties and tissue engineering applications

“…Zinc is an essential element with intrinsic antibacterial and osteoinductive capacity [ 266 ]. Zinc cross-linked scaffolds significantly reduced the growth of Bacillus subtilis and E. coli by 70 and 81%, respectively [ 167 ].…”