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Cytotoxicity of Zinc Oxide Nanparticles in Human Neurotumor Cells
Author(s) -
Singh Maibam Ratan Mani,
Lai Maria,
Mukka Krishnaveni,
Idikuda Vinaykumar,
Tadinada Satya Murthy,
Pfau Jean,
Bhushan Alok,
Leung Solomon,
Lai james
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.27.1_supplement.662.4
Subject(s) - cytotoxicity , apoptosis , nanoparticle , biocompatibility , neurotoxicity , chemistry , zinc , toxicity , neuroblastoma , cell , programmed cell death , nanotoxicology , biophysics , nanotechnology , microbiology and biotechnology , cell culture , materials science , biochemistry , biology , in vitro , genetics , organic chemistry
Increasing applications of metal oxide nanoparticles has made the environmental safety and health impact assessment of such particles very important. Our previous studies have demonstrated the cytotoxicity of several metallic and non‐metallic oxide nanoparticles in several cell types. This study extends our previous work as part of a systematic investigation of elucidating the putative cytotoxicity of zinc oxide nanoparticles in neural cells employing human neuroblastoma SK‐N‐SH and astrocytoma U87 cells. We hypothesized that apoptosis is one mechanism underlying the putative toxicity of ZnO nanoparticles in these neural cells. Our results demonstrate that treatment of these cell types with the nanoparticles induced dose‐related decreases in the cell survival. Flow cytometric findings reveal that at higher concentrations of 20–50 μg/mL of ZnO nanoparticles, significant proportions (>;60%) of both SK‐N‐SH and U87 cells were undergoing apoptosis. Our results strongly suggest that apoptosis is one cell death mechanism underlying the cytotoxicity of ZnO nanoparticles in the two types of neural cells and as such may have pathophysiological implications in the biocompatibility and health hazard of the nanoparticles.