Oral toxic exposure of titanium dioxide nanoparticles on serum biochemical changes in adult male Wistar rats

Abstract

Objective(s): Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles (NPs) are widely used in commercial food additives and cosmetics worldwide. Uptake of these nanoparticulate into humans by different routes and may exhibit potential side effects, lags behind the rapid development of nanotechnology. Thus, the present study designed to evaluate the toxic effect of mixed rutile and anatase TiO2 NPs on serum biochemical changes in rats. Materials and Methods: In this study, adult male Wistar rats were randomly allotted into the experimental and control groups (n=6), which were orally administered with 50 and 100 mg/kg body weight of TiO2 NPs. Toxic effects were assessed by the changes of serum biochemical parameters such as glucose, total protein, albumin, globulin, cholesterol, triglyceride, high density lipoprotein, alanine transaminase, aspartate transaminase, alkaline phosphatase, total bilirubin, blood urea nitrogen, uric acid and creatinine. All the serum biochemical markers were experimented in rats, after 14-days of post exposure. Results: Changes of the serum specific parameters indicated that liver and kidney were significantly affected in both experimental groups. The changes between the levels of total protein, glucose, aspartate transaminase, alanine transaminase and alkaline phosphatase indicate that TiO2 NPs induces liver damage. Significant increase in the blood urea nitrogen and uric acid indicates the renal damage in the TiO2 NPs treated rats. Conclusion: The data shows that the oral administration of TiO2 NPs (<100nm) may lead to hepatic and renal toxicity in experimental rats.