Choosing the Right Antioxidant Supplement for Protecting Liver from Toxicity of Engineered Nanoparticles : A Comprehensive In Vitro Screening
With the rapid development of nanotechnology, more and more nanomaterials are being fabricated and manipulated to perform the particular function, such as adhesive, biosensors, cosmetics, drug delivery system and artificial organ and tissue. On the other hand, nanotoxicity has become the topic of concern in nanotechnology because of the serious toxicity potentials of engineered nanomaterials on the living organisms. Many in vivo and in vitro studies clearly indicated that nanoparticles (NPs) are closely associated with toxicity by increasing intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels. And antioxidant supplementation is considered as useful against nanotoxicity related oxidative damages. At this point, in this investigation we assessed the protective abilities of selected 22 antioxidant or antioxidant featured agents against engineered nanoparticle exposure (ZnO NPs) model. We performed all experiments in cultured primary rat hepatocytes since the liver is a target site for NPs toxicity. Cell viability was detected by [3-(4,5-dimethyl-thiazol-2-yl) 2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide] (MTT) assay and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release, while total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and total oxidative stress (TOS) levels were determined to evaluate the oxidative alterations. Our results showed that each agent provided hepatoprotection in different degree. Propolis, boric acid and ascorbic acid were found to be the most effective ones while astaxanthine, L-glutamine and taurine were found to be less effective against nanoparticle induced oxidative injuries. The results presented here can be considered as the first information and rationale strategy on determining hepatoprotective potentials of common antioxidants against NP exposure for choosing the right antioxidant supplement for protecting liver.