Assessment of dermal toxicity of nanosilica using cultured keratinocytes, a human skin equivalent model and an in vivo model.
Assessments of skin irritation potentials are important aspects of the development of nanotechnology. Nanosilica is currently being widely used for commercial purposes, but little literature is available on its skin toxicity and irritation potential. This study was designed to determine whether nanosilica has the potential to cause acute cutaneous toxicity, using cultured HaCaT keratinocytes (CHK), a human skin equivalent model (HSEM), and invivo model. Nanosilica was characterized by scanning electron microscopy. We evaluated the cytotoxic effects of nanosilica on CHKs and the HSEM. In addition, we also investigated whether two commercially available nanosilicas with different sizes (7 and 10-20 nm) have different effects. To confirm invitro results, we evaluated the irritation potentials of nanosilicas on rabbit skin. Nanosilicas reduced the cell viabilities of CHKs in a dose-dependent manner. However, the HSEM revealed no irritation at 500 microg/ml of nanosilica. Furthermore, this result concurred with Draize skin irritation test findings. The present study data indicate that nanosilica does not cause acute cutaneous irritation. Furthermore, this study shows that the HSEM used provides more useful screening data than the conventional cell culture model on the relative toxicities of NPs.
Laboratory of Cell Signaling and Nanomedicine, Department of Dermatology and Division of Brain Korea 21 Project for Biomedical Science, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
Yoon-Hee
YH
Park
Ji Na
JN
Kim
Sang Hoon
SH
Jeong
Jae Eun
JE
Choi
Seung-Ho
SH
Lee
Byeong Hyeok
BH
Choi
Jung Pyo
JP
Lee
Kyung Hee
KH
Sohn
Kui Lea
KL
Park
Meyoung-Kon
MK
Kim
Sang Wook
SW
Son
D000818:Animals; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006801:Humans; D015603:Keratinocytes / Q000187:drug effects*; D008954:Models, Biological; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000633:toxicity* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D011817:Rabbits; D012822:Silicon Dioxide / Q000633:toxicity*; D012867:Skin / Q000187:drug effects*; D023422:Skin Irritancy Tests / Q000379:methods*
D012822:Silicon Dioxide