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Cellular and Molecular Toxicity of Iron Oxide Nanoparticles

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Cellular and Molecular Toxicology of Nanoparticles

Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((AEMB,volume 1048))

Abstract

Iron oxide nanoparticles (ION) have attracted much attention because of their particular physico-chemical properties, including superparamagnetism. These features make them suitable for many purposes and several interesting biomedical applications, such as to increase contrast in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), as drug delivery systems and as hyperthermia agents. However, they have also shown to be easily accumulated in diverse tissues and induce toxicity at different levels. This chapter reviews the different cellular and molecular effects induced by ION reported from in vitro studies with human and non-human cell lines. Those effects are mainly dependent on ION type and concentration, time of exposure, presence and nature of coating, and cell type evaluated. They include decreases in viability, plasmatic membrane disruption, oxidative damage, mitochondrial alterations, cell cycle impairments, cytoskeleton disruption, cell death, and alterations in cell motility, and in cell integrity. Despite these negative effects, the numerous advantages of ION together with their promising applications in biomedicine, make it necessary to clearly define their toxicity in order to discard potential health risks and to reach optimal benefits of their use.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Xunta de Galicia (grant number ED431B 2016/013) and the projects NanoToxClass (ERA-SIINN/001/2013) funded by FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC) and co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the COMPETE Programme, and CERASAFE (SIINN/0004/2014) funded by FCT (national funds of MES) and co-funded by the European Union (ERA-NET SIINN programme). V. Valdiglesias was supported by a Xunta de Galicia postdoctoral fellowship (reference ED481B 2016/190-0). N. Fernández-Bertólez was supported by an INDITEX-UDC fellowship. F. Brandão was supported by the grant SFRH/BD/101060/2014, funded by FCT (financing subsided by national fund of MES).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Area of Psychobiology, Universidade da Coruña, DICOMOSA Group, A Coruña, Spain

    Blanca Laffon, Natalia Fernández-Bertólez, Eduardo Pásaro & Vanessa Valdiglesias

  2. Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Universidade da Coruña, A Coruña, Spain

    Natalia Fernández-Bertólez

  3. Department of Environmental Health, Portuguese National Institute of Health, Porto, Portugal

    Carla Costa, Fátima Brandão & João Paulo Teixeira

  4. ISPUP-EPIUnit, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Carla Costa, Fátima Brandão, João Paulo Teixeira & Vanessa Valdiglesias

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  1. Blanca Laffon
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  2. Natalia Fernández-Bertólez
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  3. Carla Costa
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  4. Fátima Brandão
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  7. Vanessa Valdiglesias
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Correspondence to Blanca Laffon .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Zoology Department, College of Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

    Quaiser Saquib

  2. Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

    Mohammad Faisal

  3. Zoology Department, College of Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

    Abdulaziz A. Al-Khedhairy

  4. Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

    Abdulrahman A. Alatar

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Laffon, B. et al. (2018). Cellular and Molecular Toxicity of Iron Oxide Nanoparticles. In: Saquib, Q., Faisal, M., Al-Khedhairy, A., Alatar, A. (eds) Cellular and Molecular Toxicology of Nanoparticles. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 1048. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72041-8_12

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