Oxidative Stress and Nano-Toxicity Induced by TiO2 and ZnO on WAG Cell Line

Metallic nanoparticles are widely used in cosmetics, food products and textile industry. These particles are known to cause respiratory toxicity and epithelial inflammation. They are eventually released to aquatic environment necessitating toxicity studies in cells from respiratory organs of aquatic organisms. Hence, we have developed and characterized a new cell line, WAG, from gill tissue of Wallago attu for toxicity assessment of TiO2 and ZnO nanoparticles. The efficacy of the cell line as an in vitro system for nanoparticles toxicity studies was established using electron microscopy, cytotoxicity assays, genotoxicity assays and oxidative stress biomarkers. Results obtained with MTT assay, neutral red uptake assay and lactate dehydrogenase assay showed acute toxicity to WAG cells with IC50 values of 25.29 ± 0.12, 34.99 ± 0.09 and 35.06 ± 0.09 mg/l for TiO2 and 5.716 ± 0.1, 3.160 ± 0.1 and 5.57 ± 0.12 mg/l for ZnO treatment respectively. The physicochemical properties and size distribution of nanoparticles were characterized using electron microscopy with integrated energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and Zetasizer. Dose dependent increase in DNA damage, lipid peroxidation and protein carbonylation along with a significant decrease in activity of Superoxide Dismutase, Catalase, total Glutathione levels and total antioxidant capacity with increasing concentration of exposed nanoparticles indicated that the cells were under oxidative stress. The study established WAG cell line as an in vitro system to study toxicity mechanisms of nanoparticles on aquatic organisms.