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Biological impacts of TiO2 on human lung cell lines A549 and H1299: particle size distribution effects

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Abstract

Increasing use of titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles in many commercial applications has led to emerging concerns regarding the safety and environmental impact of these materials. In this study, we have investigated the biological impact of nano-TiO2 (with particle primary size of 20 nm Aeroxide P25) on human lung cell lines in vitro and also the effect of particle size distribution on the particle uptake and apparent toxicity. The biological impact of nano-TiO2 is shown to be influenced by the concentration and particle size distribution of the TiO2 and the impact was shown to differ between the two cell lines (A549 and H1299) investigated herein. A549 cell line was shown to be relatively resistant to the total amount of TiO2 particles uptaken, as measured by cell viability and metabolic assays, while H1299 had a much higher capacity to ingest TiO2 particles and aggregates, with consequent evidence of impact at concentrations as low as 30–150 μg/mL TiO2. Evidence gathered from this study suggests that both viability and metabolic assays (measuring metabolic and mitochondrial activities and also cellular ATP level) should be carried out collectively to gain a true assessment of the impact of exposure to TiO2 particles.

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Abbreviations

TiO2 :

Titanium dioxide

ATP:

Adenosine triphosphate

MTS:

[3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium

d 90 :

Particle diameter at which 90% of aggregates are equal or less than that size

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Dorothy Yu and Rebeya Akter (UNSW Solid State and Elemental Analysis Unit: ICP-OES) for the quantification of TiO2 concentrations. The study was financially supported by the Australian Research Council through the ARC Centres of Excellence Program.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemical Engineering, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia

    Roslyn Tedja, May Lim & Rose Amal

  2. School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia

    Christopher Marquis

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  1. Roslyn Tedja
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  2. Christopher Marquis
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  3. May Lim
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  4. Rose Amal
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Correspondence to Christopher Marquis.

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Tedja, R., Marquis, C., Lim, M. et al. Biological impacts of TiO2 on human lung cell lines A549 and H1299: particle size distribution effects. J Nanopart Res 13, 3801–3813 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-011-0302-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-011-0302-6

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