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Analysis of the cytotoxicity of differentially sized titanium dioxide nanoparticles in murine MC3T3-E1 preosteoblasts

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Abstract

There is an increased use of nanophase titanium dioxide (TiO2) in bone implants and scaffolds. However, nano-debris is generated at the bone-biomaterial interface. Therefore, TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) of many sizes were investigated for cytotoxic effects on murine MC3T3-E1 preosteoblasts. These TiO2 NPs induced a time- and dose-dependent decrease in cell viability. There was a significant increase in lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release, apoptosis and mitochondrial membrane permeability following short-term exposure of the cells to TiO2 NPs. These NPs also increased granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) gene expression. Compared with the 32 nm TiO2 NPs, 5 nm TiO2 NPs were more toxic, induced more apoptosis, increased mitochondrial membrane permeability and stimulated more GM-CSF expression at a high concentration (≥100 μg/ml). The results implied that the differential toxicity was associated with variations in size, so more attention should be given to the toxicity of small NPs for the design of future materials for implantation.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from the Shanghai Leading Academic Discipline Project (No. S30206, T0202) and the Science and Technology Committee of Shanghai (No. 08DZ2271100). The authors would like to thank Xiuli Zhang and Dongxia Ye (Oral Bioengineering Lab, Ninth People’s Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine) for their helpful assistance with the experiments.

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  1. Department of Prosthodontics, Ninth People’s Hospital, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Stomatology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China

    Yilin Zhang, Weiqiang Yu, Xinquan Jiang, Kaige Lv, Shengjun Sun & Fuqiang Zhang

  2. Oral Bioengineering Lab, Shanghai Research Institute of Stomatology, Ninth People’s Hospital, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Stomatology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200011, China

    Xinquan Jiang

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  1. Yilin Zhang
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Zhang, Y., Yu, W., Jiang, X. et al. Analysis of the cytotoxicity of differentially sized titanium dioxide nanoparticles in murine MC3T3-E1 preosteoblasts. J Mater Sci: Mater Med 22, 1933–1945 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10856-011-4375-7

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