Effect of Pulmonary Inflammation by Surface Functionalization of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles.

Ayoung Jung,Sung-Hyun Kim,Jayoung Jeong,Jin Hee Lee,Jae-Ho Oh,Jong Kwon Lee,Jun-Young Yang

doi:10.3390/toxics9120336

Ayoung Jung, Sung-Hyun Kim + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics9120336

Copy DOI

Abstract

Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) are used in various industries such as food additives, cosmetics, and biomedical applications. In this study, we evaluated lung damage over time by three types of ZnO NPs (L-serine, citrate, and pristine) following the regulation of functional groups after a single intratracheal instillation to rats. The three types of ZnO NPs showed an acute inflammatory reaction with increased LDH and inflammatory cell infiltration in the alveoli 24 h after administration. Especially in treatment with L-serine, citrate ZnO NPs showed higher acute granulocytic inflammation and total protein induction than the pristine ZnO NPs at 24 h. The acute inflammatory reaction of the lungs recovered on day 30 with bronchoalveolar fibrosis. The concentrations of IL-4, 6, TNF-α, and eotaxin in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) decreased over time, and the levels of these inflammation indicators are consistent with the following inflammatory cell data and acute lung inflammation by ZnO NP. This study suggests that single inhalation exposure to functionalized ZnO NPs may cause acute lung injury with granulocytic inflammation. Although it can recover 30 days after exposure, acute pulmonary inflammation in surface functionalization means that additional studies of exposure limits are needed to protect the workers that produce it.

Highlights

In recent years, as the number of cases of applying nanomaterials in various industrial fields has increased, it has become a critical issue to identify the toxicity of nanomaterials accurately
The pristine 20 nm sized zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) were purchased from Sumitomo Osaka Cement Co, Ltd. (Lot number: 141319; Tokyo, Japan)
The primary size and morphology of ZnO NPs were measured by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) using Quanta 250 FEG instrument (FEI Co., Hillsboro, OR, USA)

Summary

Introduction

As the number of cases of applying nanomaterials in various industrial fields has increased, it has become a critical issue to identify the toxicity of nanomaterials accurately. Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) are used in many commercial products, including food additives, cosmetics, textiles, paints, and personal hygiene products [1]. The increasing use of ZnO NPs has raised concerns about their potential toxicity to humans and the environment. ZnO NPs might enter the human body by various routes, including oral ingestion, nasal inhalation, intravenous injection, and transdermal delivery [4,5,6,7,8]. The toxicological properties of ZnO NPs have been studied according to the different routes of exposure. Many studies have evaluated the toxicity of ZnO NPs in cell lines and animal models [10,11,12,13]. The inhalation of low levels of ZnO NPs causes marked changes and damage to pulmonary function in guinea pigs [14], and ZnO inhalation causes pulmonary impairment and systemic effects such as metal fume fever in humans [15]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion