Interactions between oxide nanoparticles and human cells

P-ROS01
Interactions between oxide nanoparticles and human cells:
a physico-chemical and toxicological study
Mélanie AUFFAN1,3, Jérôme ROSE1,3, Laetitia DECOME2,3, Anne-Marie FLANK4, Valérie
BRIOIS4, Luca OLIVI5, Thierry ORSIERE2,3, Michel DE MEO2,3, Alain BOTTA2,3, Mark R.
WIESNER6, Jean-Yves BOTTERO1,3
1
CEREGE UMR 6635 CNRS-Paul Cézanne University, Europole de l'Arbois 13545 Aix en Provence,
France
2
Laboratoire de Biogénotoxicologie et Mutagenèse Environnementale EA1784, Facultés de Médecine
et de Pharmacie, Université de la Méditerranée, 13385 Marseille, France
3
IFR PMSE 112, , Europole de l'Arbois 13545 Aix en Provence, France
4
LURE-CNRS, Bât. 209D, B.P.34, 91898 Orsay, France
5
ELETTRA Synchrotron Light Source, Strada Statale 14, 34012 Trieste, Italy
6
Civil and Environmental Engineering, Rice University, 6100 Main Street MS 317, Houston, TX
77005, USA
The enthusiasm towards nanoparticles and nanotechnologies never cease to increase
since 10 years. The synthesis of functionalized nanoparticles allows the development of new
and innovative applications as imaging contrast agent, drug delivery, water treatment and
catalysis… To this end, most works in this field has been done in improving the applications
and the biocompatibility of nanomaterials, but only a few investigations have been carried out
to evaluate their potential environmental and toxic impacts. Even if the amount of
nanoparticles produce by industry is limited the perspective of large worldwide production
trigger off fears of peoples as well as scientists. Indeed, several properties confer to the
nanoparticles unique behaviors in contact with cells: their small size favors diffusive transfer
and their reactive surface can lead to interaction with object with comparable size (membrane,
proteins, DNA…) and pollutants. Consequently, the study of the physico-chemical
interactions between nanoparticles and human cells is a prerequisite condition prior to a large
industrial use of nanoparticles.
The aim of our work is to evaluate the potential toxicity of manufactured nanoparticles
(Fe2O3 and CeO2) towards human cells and to understand the mechanism from the
macroscopic to the atomic scale. The originality is to couple a physico-chemical (XAS and
dynamic light scattering) with a toxicological approach of the nanoparticles/cells interactions.
The colloidal stability of the nanoparticles suspension will be controlled by modification of
the nanoparticles surface properties. The biological response will be determined in terms of
cyto and genotoxicity using various tests like survival tests and functional genomic analysis.
X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (beamline 11.1 at Elettra and Lucia at SLS) was used to
determine the chemical modifications of the nanoparticles all along the interactions with cells
and to identify the toxic or non-toxic mechanisms at the molecular scale.