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

• DOI: 10.20944/preprints202205.0079.v1
• Publication Date: 2022-05-09T06:21:37Z
• Authors: Giovanni Sitia; Fabio Fiordaliso; Martina Bruna Vio...; Jennifer Fernadez...; Laura Talamini; Alessandro Corbelli; Lorena Maria Ferr...; Ngoc Lan Tran; Indranath Chakrab...; Mario Salmona; Wolfgang Parak; Luisa Diomede; Paolo Bigini

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 physicochemical properties E171 NPs their interaction with biological targets is still far from clear. We evaluated acute toxicity in invertebrate vertebrate animals. In nematode C. elegans, up to 1.0 mg/mL did not affect worm&amp;rsquo;s viability lifespan but significantly impaired pharyngeal function, reproduction, development. also focused our attention fate after penetration inside circulatory tree, investigating whether intravenous administration mice could result an over-absorption filter organs. A significant increase hepatic Ti concentration formation microgranulomas were observed. Interstitial inflammation parenchymal modification found lung coupled accumulation, probably due propensity agglomerate, as demonstrated by transmission electron microscopy experiments showing that incubation serum promoted compact clusters. Overall, these data emphasize, once again, risk for exposure E171.