In vitro evaluation of cytotoxicity of engineered metal oxide nanoparticles

  • Xiaoke Hu
  • , Sean Cook
  • , Peng Wang
  • , Huey min Hwang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

313 Scopus citations

Abstract

The recent advances in nanotechnology and the corresponding popular usage of nanomaterials have resulted in uncertainties regarding their environmental impacts. In this study, we used a systematic approach to study and compare the in vitro cytotoxicity of selected engineered metal oxide nanoparticles to the test organisms - E. coli. Among the seven test nano-sized metal oxides, ZnO, CuO, Al2O3, La2O3, Fe2O3, SnO2 and TiO2, ZnO showed the lowest LD50 of 21.1 mg/L and TiO2 had the highest LD50 of 1104.8 mg/L. Data of 14C-glucose mineralization test paralleled the results of bacteria viability test. After regression calculation, the cytotoxicity was found to be correlated with cation charges (R2 = 0.9785). The higher the cation charge is, the lower the cytotoxicity of the nano-sized metal oxide becomes. To the best of our knowledge, this finding is the first report in nanotoxicology.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3070-3072
Number of pages3
JournalScience of the Total Environment
Volume407
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Apr 2009
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Cytotoxicity
  • LD
  • Metal oxide nanoparticles

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'In vitro evaluation of cytotoxicity of engineered metal oxide nanoparticles'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this