Microarray assisted toxicological investigations of boron carbide nanoparticles on human primary alveolar epithelial cells

Abstract

It is important to understand the adverse effects of nanoparticles on human health and to prepare risk reports for widely used nanoscale materials. Synthesis, characterization and cytotoxicity evaluation of B4C nanoparticles were performed on HPAEpiC since, first encounter with nanoparticles would generally happen through lung by inhaling chemicals. B4C nanoparticles were synthesized via chemical vapor deposition techniques and characterized by using transmission electron microscope (TEM), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray crystallography (XRD). 3-(4,5-dimethyl-thiazol-2-yl) 2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and neutral red (NR) tests were used to analyze cell viability and cytotoxicity against nanoparticles exposure. Microarray analysis was used to discover whole genome effects of B4C NPs on gene expressions changes of HPAEpiC cells. Then, the database for annotation, visualization and integrated discovery (DAVID) analysis was performed to understand relationships between gene pathways and nanoparticle exposure. Finally, cytotoxicity analysis revealed that IC20 value for boron carbide (B4C) nanoparticles was 202.525 mg/L. According to microarray analysis 32 genes expression change significantly (FC ≥ 2) over 40,000 genes scanning. The gene pathways analysis showed that boron carbide (B4C) nanoparticles mostly affect amino acid biosynthesis process, TGF-beta signaling pathway and developmental proteins regulation. In conclusion, our results supported for the first time that boron carbide (B4C) nanoparticles could be used as a safe nanomaterial in both pharmacological and medical applications.