Cytotoxic effects of anthracene and magnetite nanoparticles coated with oleic acid on breast cancer cells

MARDIROSIAN, MARIANA; LASAGNA M; NÚÑEZ, M; GALARZA TAMARA; ESPERT NURIA; PARRA MARÍA CAROLINA; CECILIA LASCANO; COCCA, C; ANDRÉS VENTURINO

Mar del Plata

Congreso; Reunión Anual de Sociedades de Biociencias 2022, Sociedad Argentina de Investigación Clínica (SAIC), Sociedad Argentina de Inmunología (SAI) y Sociedad Argentina de Fisiología (SAFIS); 2022

Sociedad Argentina de Investigación Clínica

The demand for crude oil hydrocarbons represents a growing concern worldwide due to pollution problems from drilling, production and transportation. Thus, it is important to perform toxicity studies to assess the risk associated with these incidents, not only for the environment but also for humans. Our aim was to evaluate the effects of anthracene, a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH), and magnetite nanoparticles coated with oleic acid (NP), developed and synthetized by our group for the remediation of water contaminated with PAH, on MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells. We studied anthracene and NP effects on survival and apoptosis. Furthermore, we performed Prussian blue staining to evaluate NP uptake and its cellular localization. MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cell lines were exposed for 72 h to either anthracene (0; 3,5; 7; 15 and 28 µM) or NP (0; 12,5; 25; 50; 100 and 200 mg/L). After the incubation, we performed MTT assay to assess cell viability and the Hoechst staining method to detect nuclear fragmentation during apoptosis. No significant differences were observed in the survival of anthracene treated cells compared to control. However, exposure to 100 and 200 mg NP/L significantly decreased the survival of both cell lines (p< 0,05). No significant differences were observed in the number of fragmented nuclei after anthracene or NP exposure. We observed that NP were internalized and located in the cytoplasm and around the nuclei in both cell lines. Surprisingly, our results suggest that the studied concentrations of anthracene do not affect viability or apoptosis. It will be necessary to further study other anthracene effects in order to understand the mechanism of action of the toxicity of this hydrocarbon. We also envisage the need of evaluating NP containing PAH after remediation to determine potential risks of the system. The effects derived from NP alone alert for secure uses avoiding nanomaterial release to the environment during remediation processes.