Impact of Amorphous SiO{sub 2} Nanoparticles on a Living Organism: Morphological, Behavioral, and Molecular Biology Implications
- Istituto di Cibernetica “Eduardo Caianiello”, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Pozzuoli (Italy)
- Center for Biomolecular Nanotechnologies@UNILE, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Arnesano (Italy)
- The Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan (Israel)
It is generally accepted that silica (SiO{sub 2}) is not toxic. But the increasing use of silica nanoparticles (SiO{sub 2}NPs) in many different industrial fields has prompted the careful investigation of their toxicity in biological systems. In this report, we describe the effects elicited by SiO{sub 2}NPs on animal and cell physiology. Stable and monodisperse amorphous silica nanoparticles, 25 nM in diameter, were administered to living Hydra vulgaris (Cnidaria). The dose-related effects were defined by morphological and behavioral assays. The results revealed an all-or-nothing lethal toxicity with a rather high threshold (35 nM NPs) and a LT50 of 38 h. At sub lethal doses, the morphophysiological effects included: animal morphology alterations, paralysis of the gastric region, disorganization and depletion of tentacle specialized cells, increase of apoptotic and collapsed cells, and reduction of the epithelial cell proliferation rate. Transcriptome analysis (RNAseq) revealed 45 differentially expressed genes, mostly involved in stress response and cuticle renovation. Our results show that Hydra reacts to SiO{sub 2}NPs, is able to rebalance the animal homeostasis up to a relatively high doses of SiO{sub 2}NPs, and that the physiological modifications are transduced to gene expression modulation.
- OSTI ID:
- 22688012
- Journal Information:
- Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, Vol. 2; Other Information: Copyright (c) 2014 Ambrosone, Scotto di Vettimo, Malvindi, Roopin, Levy, Marchesano, Pompa, Tortiglione and Tino.; This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 2296-4185
- Country of Publication:
- Switzerland
- Language:
- English
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