title: Impact of Amorphous SiO2 Nanoparticles on a Living Organism: Morphological, Behavioral, and Molecular Biology Implications.
abstract: It is generally accepted that silica (SiO2) is not toxic. But the increasing use of silica nanoparticles (SiO2NPs) in many different industrial fields has prompted the careful investigation of their toxicity in biological systems. In this report, we describe the effects elicited by SiO2NPs on animal and cell physiology. Stable and monodisperse amorphous silica nanoparticles, 25 nM in diameter, were administered to living Hydra vulgaris (Cnidaria). The dose-related effects were defined by morphological and behavioral assays. The results revealed an all-or-nothing lethal toxicity with a rather high threshold (35 nM NPs) and a LT50 of 38 h. At sub lethal doses, the morphophysiological effects included: animal morphology alterations, paralysis of the gastric region, disorganization and depletion of tentacle specialized cells, increase of apoptotic and collapsed cells, and reduction of the epithelial cell proliferation rate. Transcriptome analysis (RNAseq) revealed 45 differentially expressed genes, mostly involved in stress response and cuticle renovation. Our results show that Hydra reacts to SiO2NPs, is able to rebalance the animal homeostasis up to a relatively high doses of SiO2NPs, and that the physiological modifications are transduced to gene expression modulation.
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Cibernetica "Eduardo Caianiello", Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche , Pozzuoli , Italy.
authors.forename: Alfredo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ambrosone
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Cibernetica "Eduardo Caianiello", Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche , Pozzuoli , Italy.
authors.forename: Maria Rosaria
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Scotto di Vettimo
authors.affiliation: Center for Biomolecular Nanotechnologies@UNILE, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia , Arnesano , Italy.
authors.forename: Maria Ada
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Malvindi
authors.affiliation: The Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar Ilan University , Ramat Gan , Israel.
authors.forename: Modi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Roopin
authors.affiliation: The Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar Ilan University , Ramat Gan , Israel.
authors.forename: Oren
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Levy
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Cibernetica "Eduardo Caianiello", Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche , Pozzuoli , Italy.
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Marchesano
authors.affiliation: Center for Biomolecular Nanotechnologies@UNILE, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia , Arnesano , Italy.
authors.forename: Pier Paolo
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Pompa
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Cibernetica "Eduardo Caianiello", Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche , Pozzuoli , Italy.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tortiglione
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Cibernetica "Eduardo Caianiello", Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche , Pozzuoli , Italy.
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tino
keywords: GSH response; Hydra; RNAseq; amorphous silica nanoparticles; extracellular matrix homeostasis; nanotoxicity