Titanium dioxide nanoparticles induced cytotoxicity, oxidative stress and DNA damage in human amnion epithelial (WISH) cells

Titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO 2-NPs) induced cytotoxicity and DNA damage have been investigated using human amnion epithelial (WISH) cells, as an in vitro model for nanotoxicity assessment. Crystalline, polyhedral rutile TiO 2-NPs were synthesized and characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-Visible spectroscopy, Fourier transform infra red (FTIR) spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopic (TEM) analyses. The neutral red uptake (NRU) and [3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide] (MTT) assays revealed the concentration dependent cytotoxic effects of TiO 2-NPs (30.6nm) in concentration range of 0.625-10μg/ml. Cells exposed to TiO 2-NPs (10μg/ml) exhibited significant reduction (46.3% and 34.6%; p<0.05) in catalase activity and glutathione (GSH) level, respectively. Treated cells showed 1.87-fold increase in intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and 7.3% (p<0.01) increase in G 2/M cell cycle arrest, as compared to the untreated control. TiO 2-NPs treated cells also demonstrated the formation of DNA double strand breaks with 14.6-fold (p<0.05) increase in Olive tail moment (OTM) value at 20μg/ml concentration, vis-à-vis untreated control, under neutral comet assay conditions. Thus, the reduction in cell viability, morphological alterations, compromised antioxidant system, intracellular ROS production, and significant DNA damage in TiO 2-NPs exposed cells signify the potential of these NPs to induce cyto- and genotoxicity in cultured WISH cells. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.