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The genotoxic effects of titanium dioxide nanoparticles on Dugesia dorotocephala genomic DNA
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- Author(s) / Creator(s)
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The nanotechnology industry is rapidly growing and hence as are its uses in commercial and consumer goods. The Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies cited a 521% increase between 2006 and 2011 in the number of consumer goods containing nanoparticles. Nanotechnology can be found in a wide variety of products such as health and fitness, home and garden, automotive, food and beverage, cross cutting, electronics, appliances, and goods for children. As the utilization of nanotechnology increases, so does the concern regarding potential toxic effects of nanomaterials in biological systems. The exponential growth of the nanotechnology industry gave rise to a new area of research-nanotoxicology. The aim of nanotoxicology is to examine the potential toxic effect of nanoparticles within biological systems. Much of the focus of nanotoxicological research has been mammalian centered, creating a deficiency in our knowledge and understanding of genotoxic effects in aquatic ecosystems. Genotoxicity is arguably the most important aspect of the toxic effects induced by nanoparticles. Planaria are commonly used as bio-indicators to evaluate the toxicity of potentially harmful chemicals due to their sensitivity to environmental changes. This sensitivity coupled with the ubiquitous nature of planarians throughout various bodies of water makes them a highly valuable model organism on which to conduct genotoxicty studies and to date the use of planarians as bio-indicators of multiple freshwater systems has yet to be utilized. Nanoparticles exhibit increased reactivity due to their increased surface area. The increased surface to mass ratio of nanoparticles causes them to be more reactive than normal sized particles of the same compound. Moreover due to the decreased radius and increased surface area of nanoparticles, they are able to pass through cell membranes and easily inflict damage within biological systems. This study demonstrates that titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2 NPs) induced apoptotic fragmentation of Dugesia dorotocephala genomic DNA. In addation the increased reactivity allows the TiO2 NPs to rapidly cause damage over a 24-hour period regardless of concentration/ level of exposure and rapidly induce genotoxic damage over a 24-hour period in two planarian colonies with different physical characteristics.
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- Date created
- 2013-08-04
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- Type of Item
- Research Material