title: Selective toxicity of zinc oxide nanoparticles to prokaryotic and eukaryotic systems.
abstract: We report on the toxicity of ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) to gram-negative and gram-positive bacterial systems, Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), and primary human immune cells. ZnO NP (~13 nm) showed complete inhibition of E. coli growth at concentrations 3.4 mM, whereas growth of S. aureus was completely inhibited for 1 mM. Parallel experiments using flow cytometry based assays clearly demonstrated that growth inhibitory properties of ZnO NP were accompanied by a corresponding loss of cell viability. Identical ZnO NP had minimal effects on primary human T cell viability at concentrations toxic to both gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria. Collectively, these experiments demonstrate selectivity in the toxic nature of ZnO NP to different bacterial systems and human T lymphocytes. Developing selective toxicity to biological systems and controlling it by NP design could lead to biomedical and antibacterial applications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Boise State University, Boise, Idaho 83725.
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Reddy
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Feris
authors.forename: Jason
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bell
authors.forename: Denise G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Wingett
authors.forename: Cory
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hanley
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Punnoose