Cobalt Oxide Nanoparticles: Behavior towards Intact and Impaired Human Skin and Keratinocytes Toxicity

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

Marcella Mauro⁴  Matteo Crosera⁴  Marco Pelin³  Chiara Florio³  Francesca Bellomo⁴  Gianpiero Adami⁵  Piero Apostoli²  Giuseppe De Palma²  Massimo Bovenzi⁴  Marco Campanini¹  Francesca Larese Filon⁴ 

[1] IMEM-CNR Institute, Parco Area delle Scienze 37/A, Parma 43124, Italy; E-Mail:;Dipartimento di Specialità Medico Chirurgiche, Scienze Radiologiche, Sanità Pubblica, University of Brescia, Piazza del Mercato, Brescia 15-25121, Italy; E-Mails:;Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Via L. Giorgeri 7/9, Trieste 34127, Italy; E-Mails:;Clinical Unit of Occupational Medicine, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Trieste, Via della Pietà, Trieste 19-34129, Italy; E-Mails:;Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Trieste, Via Giorgeri 2, Trieste 1-34127, Italy; E-Mail:

关键词: cobalt oxide;    nanoparticles;    in vitro;    human skin absorption;    keratinocytes toxicity;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ijerph120708263

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Skin absorption and toxicity on keratinocytes of cobalt oxide nanoparticles (Co₃O₄NPs) have been investigated. Co₃O₄NPs are commonly used in industrial products and biomedicine. There is evidence that these nanoparticles can cause membrane damage and genotoxicity in vitro, but no data are available on their skin absorption and cytotoxicity on keratinocytes. Two independent 24 h in vitro experiments were performed using Franz diffusion cells, using intact (experiment 1) and needle-abraded human skin (experiment 2). Co₃O₄NPs at a concentration of 1000 mg/L in physiological solution were used as donor phase. Cobalt content was evaluated by Inductively Coupled–Mass Spectroscopy. Co permeation through the skin was demonstrated after 24 h only when damaged skin protocol was used (57 ± 38 ng·cm⁻²), while no significant differences were shown between blank cells (0.92 ± 0.03 ng cm⁻²) and those with intact skin (1.08 ± 0.20 ng·cm⁻²). To further investigate Co₃O₄NPs toxicity, human-derived HaCaT keratinocytes were exposed to Co₃O₄NPs and cytotoxicity evaluated by MTT, Alamarblue^® and propidium iodide (PI) uptake assays. The results indicate that a long exposure time (i.e., seven days) was necessary to induce a concentration-dependent cell viability reduction (EC₅₀ values: 1.3 × 10⁻⁴ M, 95% CL = 0.8–1.9 × 10⁻⁴ M, MTT essay; 3.7 × 10⁻⁵ M, 95% CI = 2.2–6.1 × 10⁻⁵ M, AlamarBlue^® assay) that seems to be associated to necrotic events (EC₅₀ value: 1.3 × 10⁻⁴ M, 95% CL = 0.9–1.9 × 10⁻⁴ M, PI assay). This study demonstrated that Co₃O₄NPs can penetrate only damaged skin and is cytotoxic for HaCat cells after long term exposure.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.