Nanotoxicological effects of SiO2 nanoparticles on Spodoptera frugiperda Sf9 cells

PABLO LUIS SANTO ORIHUELA; MARÍA VICTORIA MIRANDA; MARÍA LUCÍA FOGLIA; MARTÍN DESIMONE; ALEXANDRA M. TARGOVNIK; PABLO LUIS SANTO ORIHUELA; MARÍA VICTORIA MIRANDA; MARÍA LUCÍA FOGLIA; MARTÍN DESIMONE; ALEXANDRA M. TARGOVNIK

CURRENT PHARMACEUTICAL BIOTECHNOLOGY

BENTHAM SCIENCE PUBL LTD

Lugar: Oak Park; Año: 2016 vol. 17 p. 465 - 470

1389-2010

The application of silica nanoparticles (NPs) in the biomedical field experienced a great development. The driving forces for these and future developments are the possibility to design NPs with homogeneous size and structure and amenable to specific grafting. Moreover, it is possible to tune the characteristics of the NPs to meet the requirements of each specific cell and desired application. Herein, we analyzed the effect of silica NPs of various size and surface charge on the viability of Spodoptera frugiperda cells (Sf9 cell line) with the aim of extend the knowledge of possible toxicity of the NPs in the environment and development of new tools for insect control. Moreover, these results will also contribute to develop more effective systems for gene vectors delivery and recombinant proteins expression. Silica NPs of 14 nm, 380 nm and 1430 nm with a negative zeta potential as well as 131 nm and 448 nm with positive zeta potential were obtained by the Stöber method. The NPs were characterized by DLS and zeta potential measurements. The cell viability was assessed by the MTT test. It was observed that the 14 nm NPs posses the highest toxic effect. Indeed, after 24h the viability of the cells exposed to the lower concentration of NPs (0.12 mg/ml) was about 40% of the value obtained for the control cells not exposed to NPs. Moreover, the exposure to other negative charged NPs also causes a lower activity when compared with the control. While, lower concentrations of positive charged NPs (i.e.: 0.12 or 0.6 mg/ml) demonstrated to stimulate the proliferation of the cells and higher concentrations (i.e.: 7.2 mg/ml) did not present significantly differences with the control. In conclusion, we have demonstrated that the NPs possess an effect that is highly influenced by the size, charge and concentration. Although, silica NPs are being use in the biomedical field, these results contribute to further understand the risk that would be associated to nanoparticles and how they can be modify in order to meet the requirements of each desired application.