Genomic effects of a nanostructured alumina insecticide in human peripheral blood lymphocytes in vitro

VILCHEZ-ARUANI, JUAN; CUELLO-CARRIÓN, FERNANDO D.; VALDEZ, SUSANA R.; NADIN, SILVINA B.

Heliyon

Elsevier

Lugar: Cambrigde; Año: 2020 vol. 6

2405-8440

Nadin SB and Valdez SR contributed equally to this work.Nanotechnology is providing new tools for precision agriculture, such as agrochemical agents and innovative delivery mechanisms to improve cropping efficiency. Powder nanoinsecticides, such as experimental nanostructured alumina (NSA), show great potential for sustainable agriculture as an alternative to conventional synthetic pesticides because their mechanism of insecticide action is based on physical rather than on biochemical phenomena. However, even in highly non-reactive and hardly soluble substances such as alumina, reduced particle size may lead to an increased toxicity of the material. In order to determine whether NSA induces DNA and chromosomal damage, its toxicity was assessed in human peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) and contrasted with commercial nanostructured alumina, natural insecticide powders and a conventional pesticide. PBL from healthy donors were exposed for 24 hours to increasing concentrations (50, 100 and 200 μg/mL) of NSA particle agglomerates (