Genotoxicity and Morphological Transformation Induced by Cobalt Nanoparticles and Cobalt Chloride: an In Vitro Study on Balb/3T3 Mouse Fibroblasts

Nanotechnology is a new emerging field that involves the development, manufacturing and measurement of materials and systems in the sub micron down to few nanometers (nm) range. Its development is expected to have a large socio-economical impact in practically all industrial activity fields. However, there is still a lack of information about potential risks of manufactured nanoparticles (mNP) for the environment and with respect to human health. In this work, we studied cytotoxicity, genotoxicity and morphological transformation of cobalt nanoparticles (Co (0)-nano) and cobalt ions (Co+2) in Balb/3T3 cell model. We also evaluated Co-nano dissolution in culture medium and cellular uptake of Co-nano and Co+2. Our results indicate that Co-nano are exerting a cytotoxicity potential (IC50: 20 µM after 2h of exposure and 10 µM at 24 and 72h). For the Co-nano genotoxicity the results show that indeed the Co-nano is genotoxic (>1 µM) but no evident dose-dependent relationship was observed. For the morphological transformation, Co-nano show a statistically significance increase in the formation of Type III foci. Moreover analyzing the internalization of Co-nano we observed a higher uptake if compared with Co+2. Our results indicated cytotoxicity, morphological transformation and genotoxicity induced by Co-nano, while for Co+2 we found cytotoxicity, morphological transformation and genotoxicity, assessed by Comet assay but no by micronucleus test.

PONTI Jessica;  MUNARO Barbara;  BROGGI Francesca;  MARMORATO Patrick;  FRANCHINI Fabio;  COLOGNATO Renato;  ROSSI Francois;  SABBIONI E.; 

2009-09-24

OXFORD UNIV PRESS

JRC46508

0267-8357,   

http://mutage.oxfordjournals.org/,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC46508,   

10.1093/mutage/gep027,