2. Academic Validation
  3. Determining the Cytotoxicity of Rare Earth Element Nanoparticles in Macrophages and the Involvement of Membrane Damage

Determining the Cytotoxicity of Rare Earth Element Nanoparticles in Macrophages and the Involvement of Membrane Damage

  • Environ Sci Technol. 2017 Dec 5;51(23):13938-13948. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.7b04231.
Jie Gao 1 2,  Ruibin Li 3,  Fengbang Wang 1 2,  Xiaolei Liu 1 2,  Jie Zhang 1 2,  Ligang Hu 1 2,  Jianbo Shi 1 2,  Bin He 1 2,  Qunfang Zhou 1 2,  Maoyong Song 1 2,  Bin Zhang 4,  Guangbo Qu 1 2,  Sijin Liu 1 2,  Guibin Jiang 1 2
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100085, People's Republic of China.
  • 2 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100049, People's Republic of China.
  • 3 School for Radiological and Interdisciplinary Sciences (RAD-X), Collaborative Innovation Center of Radiation Medicine of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions, Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Radiation Medicine and Protection, Soochow University , Suzhou, Jiangsu 215123, People's Republic of China.
  • 4 School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shandong University , Jinan 250100, People's Republic of China.
PMID: 29121463 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.7b04231
Abstract

Rare earthelement nanomaterials (REE NPs) hold considerable promise, with high availability and potential applications as superconductors, imaging agents, glass additives, fertilizers additives and feed additives. These results in potential REE NP exposure to humans and the environment through different routes and adverse effects induced by biological application of these Materials are becoming an increasing concern. This study investigates the cytotoxicity of REE NPs: nLa2O3, nEu2O3, nDy2O3 and nYb2O3 from 2.5 to 80 μg/mL, in macrophages. A significant difference was observed in the extent of cytotoxicity induced in macrophages by differential REE NPs. The high-atomic number Materials (i.e., nYb2O3) tending to be no toxic whereas low-atomic number Materials (nLa2O3 and nEu2O3 and nDy2O3) induced 75.1%, 53.6% and 20.7% dead cells. With nLa2O3 as the representative material, we demonstrated that nLa2O3 induced cellular membrane permeabilization, through the sequestration of phosphates from membrane. The further mechanistic investigation established that membrane damage induced intracellular calcium increased to 3.0- to 7.3-fold compared to control cells. This caused the sustained overload of mitochondrial calcium by approximately 2.4-fold, which regulated cell necrosis. In addition, the injury of cellular membrane led to the release of cathepsins into cytosol which also contributed to cell death. This detailed investigation of signaling pathways driving REE NP-induced toxicity to macrophages is essential for better understanding of their potential health risks to humans and the environment.

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