title: Artemia salina as a model organism in toxicity assessment of nanoparticles.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Because of expanding presence of nanomaterials, there has been an increase in the exposure of humans to nanoparticles that is why nanotoxicology studies are important. A number of studies on the effects of nanomatrials in in vitro and in vivo systems have been published. Currently cytotoxicity of different nanoparticles is assessed using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay on different cell lines to determine cell viability, a tedious and expensive method. The aim of this study was to evaluate the Artemia salina test in comparison with the MTT assay in the assessment of cytotoxicity of nanostructures because the former method is more rapid and convenient and less expensive.
  
  
  METHODS
  At the first stage, toxicity of different nanoparticles with different concentrations (1.56-400 μg/mL) was measured by means of the brine shrimp lethality test. At the second stage, the effect of nanoparticles on the viability of the L929 cell line was assessed using the MTT assay. Experiments were conducted with each concentration in triplicate.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results obtained from both tests (A. salina test and MTT assay) did not have statistically significant differences (P>0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings suggest that the A. salina test may expedite toxicity experiments and decrease costs, and therefore, may be considered an alternative to the in vitro cell culture assay.
authors.affiliation: Cell and Molecular Biology Departments, Pharmaceutical Sciences Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran. rajabisomaye98@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Somayeh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rajabi
authors.affiliation: Cell and Molecular Biology Departments, Pharmaceutical Sciences Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran. ramazania@zums.ac.ir.|Biotechnology Departments, School of Pharmacy, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran. ramazania@zums.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ramazani
authors.affiliation: Zanjan Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology Research Center, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran. hamidim@zums.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Mehrdad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hamidi
authors.affiliation: Cell and Molecular Biology Departments, Pharmaceutical Sciences Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran. tnaji2002@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Tahereh
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Naji
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001156:Artemia / Q000187:drug effects*; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D002460:Cell Line; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D004353:Drug Evaluation, Preclinical; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D051379:Mice; D023421:Models, Animal; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry / Q000633:toxicity*