Unraveling the neurotoxicity of titanium dioxide nanoparticles: focusing on molecular mechanisms

• Bin Song,
• Yanli Zhang,
• Jia Liu,
• Xiaoli Feng,
• Ting Zhou and
• Longquan Shao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 645–654, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.57

• signaling pathways, dysregulated neurotransmitters and synaptic plasticity have also been shown to contribute to neurotoxicity of TiO2 NPs. Recently, studies on autophagy and DNA methylation have shed some light on possible mechanisms of nanotoxicity. Therefore, we offer a new perspective that autophagy and

• DNA methylation could contribute to neurotoxicity of TiO2 NPs. Undoubtedly, more studies are needed to test this idea in the future. In short, to fully understand the health threats posed by TiO2 NPs and to improve the bio-safety of TiO2 NPs-based products, the neurotoxicity of TiO2 NPs must be

• investigated comprehensively through studying every possible molecular mechanism. Keywords: autophagy; brain; DNA methylation; neurotoxicity; titanium dioxide nanoparticles; Introduction Titanium dioxide nanoparticles, smaller than 1 μm in at least one dimension, possess specific physico-chemical

Injection of ligand-free gold and silver nanoparticles into murine embryos does not impact pre-implantation development

• Ulrike Taylor,
• Wiebke Garrels,
• Annette Barchanski,
• Svea Peterson,
• Laszlo Sajti,
• Andrea Lucas-Hahn,
• Lisa Gamrad,
• Ulrich Baulain,
• Sabine Klein,
• Wilfried A. Kues,
• Stephan Barcikowski and
• Detlef Rath

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 677–688, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.80

• ICM and trophoblast by cells derived from the injected blastomere will be picked up by a decrease in NANOG and OCT4 expression. DNMT3A performs de-novo DNA methylation during the reprogramming phase of parental genomes. Therefore, changes in expression would point out interference with epigenetic

• responsible for the de-novo DNA methylation of the embryonic genome). Nevertheless, to further confirm these findings future experiments may additionally include the determination of blastocyst cell numbers, further genetic markers for normal development, like trophectodermal transcripts, and finally embryo