Understanding the impact of more realistic low-dose, prolonged engineered nanomaterial exposure on genotoxicity using 3D models of the human liver

Journal of Nanobiotechnology

Didem Ag Seleci¹  Johannes G. Keller¹  Wendel Wohlleben¹  Gareth J. S. Jenkins²  Martin J. D. Clift²  Gillian E. Conway²  Ume-Kulsoom Shah²  Samantha V. Llewellyn²  Shareen H. Doak²  Ilaria Zanoni³  Anna Costa³  Jeong Won Kim⁴  Amalie Kofoed Jørgensen⁵  Keld Alstrup Jensen⁵ 

[1] Advanced Materials Research, Department of Material Physics and Analytics, BASF SE;In Vitro Toxicology Group, Institute of Life Science, Swansea University Medical School, Swansea University;Institute of Science and Technology for Ceramics, CNR-ISTEC-National Research Council of Italy;Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS);National Research Centre for the Working Environment (NRCWE);

关键词: In vitro liver models;    Engineered nanomaterials;    Physiologically relevant exposure;    Nanotoxicology;    Genotoxicity;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12951-021-00938-w

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Abstract Background With the continued integration of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) into everyday applications, it is important to understand their potential for inducing adverse human health effects. However, standard in vitro hazard characterisation approaches suffer limitations for evaluating ENM and so it is imperative to determine these potential hazards under more physiologically relevant and realistic exposure scenarios in target organ systems, to minimise the necessity for in vivo testing. The aim of this study was to determine if acute (24 h) and prolonged (120 h) exposures to five ENMs (TiO2, ZnO, Ag, BaSO4 and CeO2) would have a significantly different toxicological outcome (cytotoxicity, (pro-)inflammatory and genotoxic response) upon 3D human HepG2 liver spheroids. In addition, this study evaluated whether a more realistic, prolonged fractionated and repeated ENM dosing regime induces a significantly different toxicity outcome in liver spheroids as compared to a single, bolus prolonged exposure. Results Whilst it was found that the five ENMs did not impede liver functionality (e.g. albumin and urea production), induce cytotoxicity or an IL-8 (pro-)inflammatory response, all were found to cause significant genotoxicity following acute exposure. Most statistically significant genotoxic responses were not dose-dependent, with the exception of TiO2. Interestingly, the DNA damage effects observed following acute exposures, were not mirrored in the prolonged exposures, where only 0.2–5.0 µg/mL of ZnO ENMs were found to elicit significant (p ≤ 0.05) genotoxicity. When fractionated, repeated exposure regimes were performed with the test ENMs, no significant (p ≥ 0.05) difference was observed when compared to the single, bolus exposure regime. There was < 5.0% cytotoxicity observed across all exposures, and the mean difference in IL-8 cytokine release and genotoxicity between exposure regimes was 3.425 pg/mL and 0.181%, respectively. Conclusion In conclusion, whilst there was no difference between a single, bolus or fractionated, repeated ENM prolonged exposure regimes upon the toxicological output of 3D HepG2 liver spheroids, there was a difference between acute and prolonged exposures. This study highlights the importance of evaluating more realistic ENM exposures, thereby providing a future in vitro approach to better support ENM hazard assessment in a routine and easily accessible manner.

【 授权许可】

Unknown