%0 Journal Article
%T Effect of Polyethylene Glycol Modification of TiO2 Nanoparticles on Cytotoxicity and Gene Expressions in Human Cell Lines
%A Sharmy Saimon Mano
%A Koki Kanehira
%A Shuji Sonezaki
%A Akiyoshi Taniguchi
%J International Journal of Molecular Sciences
%D 2012
%I MDPI AG
%R 10.3390/ijms13033703
%X Nanoparticles (NPs) are tiny materials used in a wide range of industrial and medical applications. Titanium dioxide (TiO 2) is a type of nanoparticle that is widely used in paints, pigments, and cosmetics; however, little is known about the impact of TiO 2 on human health and the environment. Therefore, considerable research has focused on characterizing the potential toxicity of nanoparticles such as TiO 2 and on understanding the mechanism of TiO 2 NP-induced nanotoxicity through the evaluation of biomarkers. Uncoated TiO 2 NPs tend to aggregate in aqueous media, and these aggregates decrease cell viability and induce expression of stress-related genes, such as those encoding interleukin-6 (IL-6) and heat shock protein 70B¡¯ (HSP70B¡¯), indicating that TiO 2 NPs induce inflammatory and heat shock responses. In order to reduce their toxicity, we conjugated TiO 2 NPs with polyethylene glycol (PEG) to eliminate aggregation. Our findings indicate that modifying TiO 2 NPs with PEG reduces their cytotoxicity and reduces the induction of stress-related genes. Our results also suggest that TiO 2 NP-induced effects on cytotoxicity and gene expression vary depending upon the cell type and surface modification.
%K nanoparticles
%K titanium dioxide
%K nanotoxicology
%K gene expression
%U http://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/13/3/3703