Exposure to metal oxide nanomaterials potentially occurs at the workplace. We investigated the toxicity of two Fe-oxides: Fe2O3 nanoparticles and nanorods; and three MFe2O4 spinels: NiZnFe4O8, ZnFe2O4, and NiFe2O4 nanoparticles. Mice were dosed 14, 43 or 128 mug by intratracheal instillation. Recovery periods were 1, 3, or 28 days. Inflammation - neutrophil influx into bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid - occurred for Fe2O3 rods (1 day), ZnFe2O4 (1, 3 days), NiFe2O4 (1, 3, 28 days), Fe2O3 (28 days) and NiZnFe4O8 (28 days). Conversion of mass-dose into specific surface-area-dose showed that inflammation correlated with deposited surface area and consequently, all these nanomaterials belong to the so-called low-solubility, low-toxicity class. Increased levels of DNA strand breaks were observed for both Fe2O3 particles and rods, in BAL cells three days post-exposure. To our knowledge, this is, besides magnetite (Fe3O4), the first study of the pulmonary toxicity of MFe2O4 spinel nanomaterials.
- Hadrup, N.
- Saber, A. T.
- Kyjovska, Z. O.
- Jacobsen, N. R.
- Vippola, M.
- Sarlin, E.
- Ding, Y.
- Schmid, O.
- Wallin, H.
- Jensen, K. A.
- Vogel, U.
Keywords
- Animals
- Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid
- DNA Damage
- Lung/*drug effects
- Metal Nanoparticles/*toxicity
- Mice
- Iron
- Metal oxides
- Nanomaterial
- Nickel
- Pulmonary
- Zinc
