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Oxidative Stress and Genotoxicity of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles to Pseudomonas Species, Human Promyelocytic Leukemic (HL-60), and Blood Cells

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Abstract

In the present study, toxicity of commercial zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) was studied on the bacterium Pseudomonas sp., human promyelocytic leukemia (HL-60) cells, and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). The toxicity was assessed by measuring growth, cell viability, and protein expression in bacterial cell. The bacterial growth and viability decreased with increasing concentrations of ZnO NP. Three major proteins, ribosomal protein L1 and L9 along with alkyl hydroperoxides reductase, were upregulated by 1.5-, 1.7-, and 2.0-fold, respectively, after ZnO NP exposure. The results indicated oxidative stress as the leading cause of toxic effect in bacteria. In HL-60 cells, cytotoxic and genotoxic effects along with antioxidant enzyme activity and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation were studied upon ZnO NP treatment. ZnO NP exhibited dose-dependent increase in cell death after 24-h exposure. The DNA-damaging potential of ZnO NP in HL-60 cells was maximum at 0.05 mg/L concentration. Comet assay showed 70–80% increase in tail DNA at 0.025 to 0.05 mg/L ZnO NP concentration. A significant increase of 1.6-, 1.4-, and 2.0-fold in ROS level was observed after 12 h. Genotoxic potential of ZnO NPs was also demonstrated in PBMC through DNA fragmentation. Thus, ZnO NP, besides being an essential element having antibacterial activity, also showed toxicity towards human cells (HL-60 and PBMC).

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to CSIR-NEERI for providing necessary facilities to conduct the research work. Deepika Soni is grateful to the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, for the award of INSPIRE fellowship (IF10154). This manuscript represents CSIR-NEERI communication number KRC/2016/JUN/EBD-EHD/1.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Biotechnology Division, CSIR-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nagpur, 440020, India

    Deepika Soni & R.A. Pandey

  2. Environmental Health Division, CSIR-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nagpur, 440020, India

    Deepa Gandhi, Prashant Tarale, Amit Bafana & Saravanadevi Sivanesan

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  1. Deepika Soni
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Correspondence to Saravanadevi Sivanesan.

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Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were obtained from healthy human donor (nonsmoker, nonalcoholic, and under no medication) following the ethical approval from the research ethics committee and standards laid down in 1964 with latest amendments of Declaration of Helsinki [20].

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Soni, D., Gandhi, D., Tarale, P. et al. Oxidative Stress and Genotoxicity of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles to Pseudomonas Species, Human Promyelocytic Leukemic (HL-60), and Blood Cells. Biol Trace Elem Res 178, 218–227 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-016-0921-y

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