In vitro toxicity testing of titania nanomaterials used in manufacturing of textiles with photocatalytic activity

Rydzynski, Konrad

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Ground Floor (Cancun Center)

Konrad Rydzynski, Director, Nofer Institute Of Occupational Medicine, Lodz, Poland

Joanna Arkusz, Dept. of Toxicology and Carcinogenesis, Nofer Institute Of Occupational Medicine, Lodz, Poland

Maciej Stepnik, Dept. of Toxicology and Carcinogenesis, Nofer Institute Of Occupational Medicine, Lodz, Poland

Magdalena Ferlinska, Dept. of Toxicology and Carcinogenesis, Nofer Institute Of Occupational Medicine, Lodz, Poland

Ewelina Welnowska, Dept. of Toxicology and Carcinogenesis, Nofer Institute Of Occupational Medicine, Lodz, Poland

Marek Nocun, Dept. of Toxicology and Carcinogenesis, Nofer Institute Of Occupational Medicine, Lodz, Poland

Jaroslaw Grobelny, Department of Solid State Physics, University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland

Wasowicz Wojciech, Dept. of Toxicology and Carcinogenesis, Nofer Institute Of Occupational Medicine, Lodz, Poland

Malgorzata Cieslak, Scientific Department of Unconventional Technologies and Textiles, Textile Research Institute, Lodz, Poland

Introduction
We performed a detailed characterization of physico-chemical properties (AFM, DLS, AAS, Infrared Spectroscopy FT-IR and IR –ATR, Raman spectroscopy) of two titania nanomaterials in the pristine form: Titanium Dioxide (TiO2) and Nano-silver Titanium Dioxide (TiO2/Ag).

Methods
After preparation of dispersion suspensions in culture media, the materials were tested for mutagenic activity on human lymphocytes and on V79 hamster fibroblasts according to OECD TG 487 and for in vitro cytotoxicity on BALB/3T3 clone A31 mouse fibroblasts according to ISO EN ISO 10933-5:2009 Part 5 guidelines. Furthermore, we compared toxic effects of pristine materials with the extracts prepared from polypropylene fibers incorporated with the titania materials.

Results
AFM measurements indicated that TiO2 product contained particles in the range of several dozen nm to several µm, while TiO2/Ag contained particles in the range of several hundred nm to several µm. Both products were strongly polydispersed and of irregular shape.
DLS measurements (ZetaSizer ZS) showed that TiO2 suspended in deionized water, then in DMEM culture medium and sonicated had relatively good dispersion (mean particles size of 300 nm) which persisted for 30 hours. In contrast, TiO2/Ag after using the same conditions of dispersion showed presence of particles of 10, 30 and 330 nm but also particles which size was beyond the measurement range, i.e. bigger than 6 µm.
We observed cytotoxicity of both materials, however higher for TiO2/Ag, a slight genotoxic effect in comet assay (BALB/3T3 fibroblasts) for TiO2 and more pronounced for TiO2/Ag, rather weak to moderate mutagenic effect in Micronucleus test in vitro on human lymphocytes for both materials. We found also a cytotoxic effect on BALB/3T3 cells of 24-hrs extracts from polypropylene fibers (Moplen HP 462 R) incorporated with TiO2/Ag; the effect was strongly depended on the mode of the fibers.

Discussion
Importance of good nanoparticles characterization and appropraiet selection of testing methods has been shown.

A1607 In vitro toxicity testing of titania nanomaterials used in manufacturing of textiles with photocatalytic activity