Effects of selenium oxide nanoparticles on the morphofunctional state of the liver: Experimental data

Abstract

Copper smelters are the sources of emission of complex aerosols containing, inter alia, selenium-containing nanoparticles (NPs). It is very difficult to adequately estimate the hazard posed by such particles since available data on them are scarce and have been obtained in comparatively few experimental studies with rather contradicting results. The aim of our study was to determine toxic health effects of selenium-containing nanoparticles more precisely with a focus on liver as a target organ. Liver toxicity following exposure to suspended selenium oxide nanoparticles was investigated in a sub-chronic experiment on outbred male albino rats. The suspension was prepared by laser ablation of 99%-pure selenium plates. We examined ultrastructural changes by electron microscopy, did cytological and histological analyses of the liver, biochemical blood testing and metabolomic blood screening. We observed lesions in the liver and inhibited secretory functions at various levels, from molecular to organismic, in the exposed animals. The microscopic examination showed that the number of normal and normal-vesicular mitochondria in liver cells went down by 7.78 %, p < 0.05; the metabolomic screening established lower levels of glycocholic acid in blood serum, р < 0.001; levels of alanine aminotransferase in blood serum grew by 30 %, p < 0.05; the number of acaryotic hepatocytes demonstrated a 3.1-fold increase, p < 0.05, according to the results of histological assessment of liver specimens. The touch smears of the liver examined showed a 2.2-fold increase in the number of degenerated hepatocytes (p < 0.05). These experimental data can be used to estimate a potential hazard of selenium-containing nanoparticles within social-hygienic monitoring and biomedical predictions of health damage caused by exposure to such NPs. Altered levels of lysophos-phatidylinositol can be a marker of exposure to the examined NPs and necessitate the search for early diagnostic predictors of associated health disorders.