title: Three dimensional spheroid cell culture for nanoparticle safety testing.
abstract: Nanoparticles are widely employed for many applications and the number of consumer products, incorporating nanotechnology, is constantly increasing. A novel area of nanotechnology is the application in medical implants. The widespread use of nanoparticles leads to their higher prevalence in our environment. This, in turn, raises concerns regarding potential risks to humans. Previous studies have shown possible hazardous effects of some nanoparticles on mammalian cells grown in two-dimensional (2D) cultures. However, 2D in vitro cell cultures display several disadvantages such as changes in cell shape, cell function, cell responses and lack of cell-cell contacts. For this reason, the development of better models for mimicking in vivo conditions is essential. In the present work, we cultivated A549 cells and NIH-3T3 cells in three-dimensional (3D) spheroids and investigated the effects of zinc oxide (ZnO-NP) and titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2-NP). The results were compared to cultivation in 2D monolayer culture. A549 cells in 3D cell culture formed loose aggregates which were more sensitive to the toxicity of ZnO-NP in comparison to cells grown in 2D monolayers. In contrast, NIH-3T3 cells showed a compact 3D spheroid structure and no differences in the sensitivity of the NIH-3T3 cells to ZnO-NP were observed between 2D and 3D cultures. TiO2-NP were non-toxic in 2D cultures but affected cell-cell interaction during 3D spheroid formation of A549 and NIH-3T3 cells. When TiO2-NP were directly added during spheroid formation in the cultures of the two cell lines tested, several smaller spheroids were formed instead of a single spheroid. This effect was not observed if the nanoparticles were added after spheroid formation. In this case, a slight decrease in cell viability was determined only for A549 3D spheroids. The obtained results demonstrate the importance of 3D cell culture studies for nanoparticle safety testing, since some effects cannot be revealed in 2D cell culture.
authors.affiliation: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz University Hanover, Institute for Technical Chemistry, Callinstr. 5, 30167 Hanover, Germany.
authors.forename: Franziska
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sambale
authors.affiliation: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz University Hanover, Institute for Technical Chemistry, Callinstr. 5, 30167 Hanover, Germany. Electronic address: lavrentieva@iftc.uni-hannover.de.
authors.forename: Antonina
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lavrentieva
authors.affiliation: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz University Hanover, Institute for Technical Chemistry, Callinstr. 5, 30167 Hanover, Germany.
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Stahl
authors.affiliation: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz University Hanover, Institute for Technical Chemistry, Callinstr. 5, 30167 Hanover, Germany.
authors.forename: Cornelia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Blume
authors.affiliation: Medical School Hannover, Carl-Neuberg-Straße 1, 30625 Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Meike
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stiesch
authors.affiliation: University of Natural Resources and Life Science (Boku), Institute of Applied Microbiology, Muthgasse 18, 1190 Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Cornelia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kasper
authors.affiliation: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz University Hanover, Institute for Technical Chemistry, Callinstr. 5, 30167 Hanover, Germany.
authors.forename: Detlef
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bahnemann
authors.affiliation: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz University Hanover, Institute for Technical Chemistry, Callinstr. 5, 30167 Hanover, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Scheper
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D041681:NIH 3T3 Cells; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000737:chemistry; D018874:Spheroids, Cellular / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects*; D014025:Titanium / Q000737:chemistry*; D015034:Zinc Oxide / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: C009495:titanium dioxide; D014025:Titanium; D015034:Zinc Oxide
keywords: 3D cell culture; In vitro cytotoxicity testing; Titanium dioxide nanoparticles; Zinc oxide nanoparticles