Functional neurotoxicity and tissue metal levels in rats exposed subacutely to titanium dioxide Nanoparticles via the airways

Background and purpose: Nanoparticles of titanium dioxide are suspected neurotoxic agents and have numerous applications possibly resulting in human exposure by several ways including inhalation. In the present work, rats were exposed to spherical TiO2 nanoparticles of two different sizes by the intratracheal route. It was investigated how the neuro-functional alterations, detected by electrophysiological and behavioral methods, were related to the concentration of Ti in the tissue samples and what the influence of the size of the NPs was. Methods: Fiatal felnőtt him Wistar-patkanyokat (hat csoport, 10-10 allat) kezeltunk heti ot napon, hat heten at, 10 es 100 nm koruli atmerőjű TiO2-nanoreszecskekkel, 1% hidroxietil-cellulozt tartalmazo foszfatpufferelt fiziologias oldatban szuszpendalva, 5 es 18 mg/ttkg dozisban. A vivőanyagos kontrollcsoportot a szuszpendalo kozeggel, mig a kezeletlen kontrollokat fiziologias sooldattal instillaltuk. Az altalanos toxicitast a testtomeg naponta tortent meresevel, illetve a kiserlet vegen a szervtomegek meghatarozasaval mutattuk ki. A motoros funkciok karosodasat a hathetes kezeles előtt es annak vegen vegzett kapaszkodasi probaval vizsgaltuk. Vegul uretanos altatasban kergi alapaktivitast es szenzoros kivaltott potencialokat vezettunk el, majd az allatokat felboncoltuk es szovetmintakat vettunk femszint-meghatarozasra. Results: Body weight gain indicated no general toxicity, and no significant change in the relative organ weights, except that of the lungs, was seen. However, change of time-to-fall in the grip strength test, and latency of cortical evoked po-tentials, were altered in the treated groups, indicating functional damage. Correlation of these alterations with the cortical Ti level was dissimilar for the two sizes of nanoparticles. Conclusion: Az eredmenyek ujabb ervet szolgaltatnak a TiO2-nanoreszecskek funkcionalis neurotoxicitasa mellett. A reszecskemeret szerepe es a toxikus mechanizmus tovabbi vizsgalatokat igenyel.