title: Synthesis, culture medium stability, and in vitro and in vivo zebrafish embryo toxicity of metal-organic framework nanoparticles.
abstract: Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are among the most attractive porous materials available today. They have garnered much attention for their potential utility in many different areas such as gas storage, separation, catalysis, and biomedicine. However, very little is known about the possible health or environmental risks of these materials. Here, the results of toxicity studies on sixteen representative uncoated MOF nanoparticles (nanoMOFs), which were assessed for cytotoxicity to HepG2 and MCF7 cells in vitro, and for toxicity to zebrafish embryos in vivo, are reported. Interestingly, there is a strong correlation between their in vitro toxicity and their in vivo toxicity. NanoMOFs were ranked according to their respective in vivo toxicity (in terms of the amount and severity of phenotypic changes observed in the treated zebrafish embryos), which varied widely. Altogether these results show different levels of toxicity of these materials; however, leaching of solubilized metal ions plays a main role.
authors.affiliation: ICN2 (ICN-CSIC), Institut Catala de Nanociencia i Nanotecnologia, Esfera UAB, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona (Spain); Institut de Biotecnologia i de Biomedicina, Parc de Recerca UAB, Campus Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona (Spain).
authors.forename: Àngels
authors.initials: À
authors.lastname: Ruyra
authors.forename: Amirali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yazdi
authors.forename: Jordi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Espín
authors.forename: Arnau
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carné-Sánchez
authors.forename: Nerea
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Roher
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lorenzo
authors.forename: Inhar
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Imaz
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Maspoch
keywords: metal-organic frameworks; microporous materials; nanoparticles; toxicology; zebrafish