Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Food-Grade Titanium Dioxide Induces Toxicity in C. elegans and Acute Hepatic and Pulmonary Response in Mice

Giovanni Sitia
ORCID logo ,
Fabio Fiordaliso
,
Martina Bruna Violatto
,
Jennifer Fernadez Alarcon
,
Laura Talamini
,
Alessandro Corbelli
,
Lorena Maria Ferreira
,
Ngoc Lan Tran
,
Indranath Chakraborty
,
Mario Salmona
ORCID logo ,
Wolfgang Parak
,
Luisa Diomede
* ORCID logo ,
Paolo Bigini
*
Version 1 : Received: 5 May 2022 / Approved: 6 May 2022 / Online: 6 May 2022 (13:53:13 CEST)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Sitia, G.; Fiordaliso, F.; Violatto, M.B.; Alarcon, J.F.; Talamini, L.; Corbelli, A.; Ferreira, L.M.; Tran, N.L.; Chakraborty, I.; Salmona, M.; Parak, W.J.; Diomede, L.; Bigini, P. Food-Grade Titanium Dioxide Induces Toxicity in the Nematode Caenorhabditis elegans and Acute Hepatic and Pulmonary Responses in Mice. Nanomaterials 2022, 12, 1669. Sitia, G.; Fiordaliso, F.; Violatto, M.B.; Alarcon, J.F.; Talamini, L.; Corbelli, A.; Ferreira, L.M.; Tran, N.L.; Chakraborty, I.; Salmona, M.; Parak, W.J.; Diomede, L.; Bigini, P. Food-Grade Titanium Dioxide Induces Toxicity in the Nematode Caenorhabditis elegans and Acute Hepatic and Pulmonary Responses in Mice. Nanomaterials 2022, 12, 1669.

Abstract

Food-grade titanium dioxide (E171) contains variable percentages of TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) posing awareness about its potential effects on human and animal health. Despite many studies, the actual relationship between the physicochemical properties of E171 NPs and their interaction with biological targets is still far from clear. We evaluated the acute toxicity of E171 in invertebrate and vertebrate animals. In the nematode C. elegans, E171 up to 1.0 mg/mL did not affect worm’s viability and lifespan but significantly impaired pharyngeal function, reproduction, and development. We also focused our attention on the fate of E171 after its penetration inside the circulatory tree, investigating whether its intravenous administration to mice could result in an acute over-absorption to filter organs. A significant increase of hepatic Ti concentration and the formation of microgranulomas were observed. Interstitial inflammation and parenchymal modification were found in lung coupled with Ti accumulation, probably due to the propensity of TiO2 NPs to agglomerate, as demonstrated by transmission electron microscopy experiments showing that the incubation of E171 with serum promoted the formation of compact clusters. Overall, these data emphasize, once again, the actual risk for human and animal exposure to E171.

Keywords

Titanium dioxide; E171; C. elegans; mice; toxicity

Subject

Biology and Life Sciences, Biology and Biotechnology

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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