Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticle Penetration into the Skin and Effects on HaCaT Cells

Matteo Crosera, Andrea Prodi, Marcella Mauro, Marco Pelin, Chiara Florio, Francesca Bellomo, Gianpiero Adami, Pietro Apostoli, Giuseppe De Palma, Massimo Bovenzi, Marco Campanini and Francesca Larese Filon
Additional contact information
Matteo Crosera: Clinical Unit of Occupational Medicine, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Trieste, Via della Pietà 19, Trieste 34129, Italy
Andrea Prodi: Clinical Unit of Occupational Medicine, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Trieste, Via della Pietà 19, Trieste 34129, Italy
Marcella Mauro: Clinical Unit of Occupational Medicine, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Trieste, Via della Pietà 19, Trieste 34129, Italy
Marco Pelin: Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Via L. Giorgeri 7/9, Trieste 34127, Italy
Chiara Florio: Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Via L. Giorgeri 7/9, Trieste 34127, Italy
Francesca Bellomo: Clinical Unit of Occupational Medicine, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Trieste, Via della Pietà 19, Trieste 34129, Italy
Gianpiero Adami: Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Trieste, Via Giorgeri 1, Trieste 34127, Italy
Pietro Apostoli: Dipartimento di Specialità Medico Chirurgiche, Scienze Radiologiche, Sanità Pubblica, University of Brescia, Piazza del Mercato 15, Brescia 25121, Italy
Giuseppe De Palma: Dipartimento di Specialità Medico Chirurgiche, Scienze Radiologiche, Sanità Pubblica, University of Brescia, Piazza del Mercato 15, Brescia 25121, Italy
Massimo Bovenzi: Clinical Unit of Occupational Medicine, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Trieste, Via della Pietà 19, Trieste 34129, Italy
Marco Campanini: IMEM-CNR Institute, Parco Area delle Scienze 37/A, Parma 43124, Italy
Francesca Larese Filon: Clinical Unit of Occupational Medicine, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Trieste, Via della Pietà 19, Trieste 34129, Italy

IJERPH, 2015, vol. 12, issue 8, 1-16

Abstract: Titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO 2 NPs) suspensions (concentration 1.0 g/L) in synthetic sweat solution were applied on Franz cells for 24 h using intact and needle-abraded human skin. Titanium content into skin and receiving phases was determined. Cytotoxicity (MTT, AlamarBlue ® and propidium iodide, PI, uptake assays) was evaluated on HaCat keratinocytes after 24 h, 48 h, and seven days of exposure. After 24 h of exposure, no titanium was detectable in receiving solutions for both intact and damaged skin. Titanium was found in the epidermal layer after 24 h of exposure (0.47 ± 0.33 ?g/cm 2 ) while in the dermal layer, the concentration was below the limit of detection. Damaged skin, in its whole, has shown a similar concentration (0.53 ± 0.26 ?g/cm 2 ). Cytotoxicity studies on HaCaT cells demonstrated that TiO 2 NPs induced cytotoxic effects only at very high concentrations, reducing cell viability after seven days of exposure with EC 50 s of 8.8 × 10 ?4 M (MTT assay), 3.8 × 10 ?5 M (AlamarBlue ® assay), and 7.6 × 10 ?4 M (PI uptake, index of a necrotic cell death). Our study demonstrated that TiO 2 NPs cannot permeate intact and damaged skin and can be found only in the stratum corneum and epidermis. Moreover, the low cytotoxic effect observed on human HaCaT keratinocytes suggests that these nano-compounds have a potential toxic effect at the skin level only after long-term exposure.

Keywords: titanium dioxide; nanoparticles (NPs); in vitro; human skin absorption; cytotoxicity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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